


Lone Wolf and Pilot

by Asuka Kureru (Askerian)



Series: Wolfbrothers and Gundam Pilots [2]
Category: A Companion to Wolves, Gundam Wing, Iskryne Series - Elizabeth Bear & Sarah Monette
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fusion, Dubious Consent, M/M, Pack Bonding, Psychic Bond, Psychic Wolves, bonded animal companions
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-02-13
Updated: 2016-05-12
Packaged: 2017-10-31 03:01:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 54,257
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/339134
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Askerian/pseuds/Asuka%20Kureru
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Post-EW. </p><p>Duo doesn't want to join the Preventers, thankyouverymuch. Preserving the peace is all well and good but he likes answering to no one but himself, and like hell he wants to buddy up to people he and Killer used to stand against, back during the war.</p><p>Only the Preventers have a pack, and his brother-wolf doesn't, never has, deserves to, and maybe a junkyard dog isn't all a warrior wolf should be.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This isn't a real crossover with the Iskryne series (a very interesting People with Psychic Animals trilogy that reads like a fusion of Pern and Vikings low-fantasy AU, only the Pern dragons are wolves and there's trolls and wyverns and stuff.) I'm only using the pony-sized, psychic, pack-bonding wolves, because ngh so neat.  
> (Note, the idea of scent names come from the books.)
> 
> Still in progress. As in right now I'm 4500 words in and only have the prologue and half the first chapter and I really don't think I'll have it complete by the 15th. My bad. Plotbunnies got _everywhere._

It always gave Duo a twinge of cynical amusement watching a certain kind of people try to say his brother's name with a straight face. Une, for one, who had very firm notions on the proper way to name a bondwolf.

(It was obvious the only one she'd been acquainted with was her precious General Treize Kushrenada's pampered beast, because the enlisted could get pretty crude or silly, especially with how many shits the wolves didn't give about mouth-noises to start with.)

Wasn't very funny today, though, the way she winced subtly as it passed her lips, because the rest of the sentence was soft and quiet as an assassin's knife sliding home.

"Doesn't Killer want to belong to a pack?"

"Now _that's_ a low blow," he said, almost admiring.

Une smiled thinly, cool eyes dissecting him right through the view screen and almost three hundred thousand miles of hard vacuum. Considering the communication lag between Earth and L2 she must have anticipated his reaction, too. Or maybe no matter what reaction he showed, that 'You know I'm right' face would have been appropriate.

'Fuck that noise,' he wanted to tell her, 'we've been working solo every day of our life, where was your pack when we needed help _oh right, on the other side of the battlefield._ ' Or 'there's something very freeing in being a mere concerned civilian when shit goes down and also your laws and regulations suck.'

Or 'stop trying to buy me with your fucking salary.'

Only right outside the trailer that served as office there was a grayish furmonster sprawled in the dust with his huge, long-muzzled head propped up on the wobbly step, one who spent his days half-asleep nowadays because after the first week there had been not a single low-life on the whole colony who was stupid enough to try to steal from the Schbeiker-Maxwell Salvage yard. One whose face should have been masked white, and was flecked black with machine oil instead, and now everything in his world smelled like old machine parts and gasoline.

She didn't need to say anything, Duo could say it to himself. Good job, Maxwell. You've taken a warrior-wolf and made him into a junkyard dog. Guess no matter how much they get their greedy fingers on, gutter trash will always return to the gutter in the end, and never mind what they drag along for the fall, eh?

"I'll think about it," he said, and ended the call before he could see her face changing with triumph.

It felt like running away, like defeat and shame. It felt like being slapped in the face by something he had known from the start and had refused to accept.

The scent of ozone and burn wires was so strong it had his head jerking up, instinctively scanning the office and its littered paperwork for the engine in mid-overload before he realized. He groaned, threw a sideway look at Killer's massive head, lifted just enough to give him an unimpressed honey-gold stare over the doorstep. "We gotta see about changing my scent name, buddy. One of these days I'll be working in the yard and something will blow up in my face because I'll think you're just nagging at me again."

The wolf snorted, flicked a dismissive ear. _Ozone and burnt (plastic-and-copper) wires and a sparking engine_ was pressed onto his mind again with mulish determination and a tiny pinch of offended hurt. Duo sighed, turned in his chair, foot tucked under his thigh, leaned sideway against the backrest. _Sorry_ , he sent back, and _hot asphalt and rust on steel_ and _mineminemine_ and his love, as a better kind of apology, because mouth-noises just sucked sometimes.

Killer's tail thumped once in the dirt, half-hearted. Duo's vague smile fell.

"I'm the shittiest brother, ain't I."

 _Squirrel running in circles and chittering, and smacking straight into a glass door._ Stop talking bullshit again. He let out a dry chuckle. "Okay, okay."

"What are you beating yourself up about now?"

Hilde was coming from the yard, machine-grease-splattered and several wrenches and spanners stuffed into various pockets of her overalls. She didn't even clink as she walked somehow, which meant she'd been practicing her stealth on him. And it had _worked_ , which meant he and his brother were falling asleep on the job. Duo groaned and let his head thump against the backrest. "Nothing, nevermind."

He glowered a bit at Killer for not warning him; Killer returned something like a mental raised eyebrow. Of course Hilde was around, where else would she be? Did Duo want him to track her like she was prey?

"How'd the call with the Colonel go?" Hilde asked, as she grabbed the edges of the door so she could step over Killer's head and haul herself in.

"How do calls with ancient evils ever go? Even just chatting with her it feels like I've sold my soul already."

Hilde snickered in her hand. "I'm pretty sure she's not that much older than we are. Maybe in her mid-thirties?"

"Not disputing the evil part, I see."

"Trying to convince you someone who blew up your Gundam back in the day wasn't evil? I don't like beating my head against walls _that_ much."

He tracked Hilde by ear as she crossed to the partitioned room in the back, the one they'd dubbed the archives. Water -- hand washing? And then cloth and muffled metallic thumps. Probably getting out of her overalls. He didn't even want to bother teasing her about it. Ooh Miss Schbeiker, not even closing the door, adventurous aren't we?

_Mating?_

_Not in the mood._

_... Sick?_

_Oh, fuck you too._

"Blargh. Everyone has a place in the Preventers, Mister Maxwell, even ex-terrorist child soldiers who were on the opposite side from, oh, just about everyone else, this will not cause any problems at all the Preventers are not a military organization Mister Maxwell or even a paramilitary one for that matter just think of us as an international police force true there's a lot of ex-military in our ranks and also half the people there still call me Colonel even though I'm technically not anymore but honest this is not the Organization of the Zodiac bis repetitate--"

"Duo, stop being a melodramatic ass one minute, if you can. I know it's hard, but honestly!"

Killer snorted. _Wolf howling at the sky, flying boot to the head!_

_Yeah, that's about it. I get no respect here, do I?_

_Hmm. No._

_Asshole._

Killer lolled his tongue at him.

Duo didn't know if that was a wolf thing -- that silent laugh, mimicking a human's laughing grin -- or whether to canids it just meant they felt relaxed, and Killer had picked it up from him because he didn't know any better, because Duo and Hilde were all the socialization he got.

(Mary hadn't laughed that way. Much. At all. Ever. Then again neither did her brother.)

"Hey." _Hot-asphalt-rusted-steel_ , soft voice. "Do you want a pack?"

'Pack' brought to mind fleeting memories, of _big rough gentle hands ruffling puppy fur_ and _no, bad, pee outside_ and little treats, of _men who smell like soldered metal and vacuum suits_ and _old pack leader but we only listen because we're not big enough yet_. It brought up hesitant, wistful hints of _cordite and nitroglycerine and blood_ and _a city summer breeze_ and _bird up in a tree_ and, dubious, wisps of _old whiskey._

Did Killer want a pack? God, he wasn't even sure what it was. Duo wanted to laugh. Maybe cry. _No, that's my packs. My human friends. Allies._

 _Allies_ , Killer returned, notions cautiously shaped into almost-words. _Fight-with. Pack._

No, no it wasn't. Most of them were humans, and wolfless. Their only links to his brother were through Duo, and via nothing but words and maybe some backslapping and shared beers. Even _a city summer breeze_ and _bird up in a tree_ weren't pack, only cautious circling and might-have-beens.

_Taurus oil and strawberry shortcake?_

"She can't hear you," Duo replied out loud.

Hilde popped her head out of the other room. "I can hear _you_ just fine. You can relay it."

"Oh yay, all I ever wanted to be in my life, a relay tower! Krr-skrsh, Killer Duosbrother, this is Strawberry Shortcake, stop, I really like you, stop, will you let me scritch your scrumptious ears, stop, pretty please, I have chocolate, over."

Killer's ears perked up. Duo hadn't relayed jack shit, but oh man did he understand 'scritch' and 'chocolate'. In the next second about four hundred pounds of wolf were climbing to their feet and shaking the dust off and oh-so-just-happening to wander in a Hilde-wards direction.

Hilde was pretty good, at that. Not a hint of fear, though her hand could have disappeared up to mid-forearm in Killer's maw with room to spare (quite a few other people's arms had, only unlike Hilde they'd never get them back.) Honest affection. Respect, too, she never treated Killer like he was stupid just because he wasn't human, like he was a pet poodle to pet and be amused by until you were bored with it. She even smelled nice, relaxed and caring, fingers gentle, practiced. Duo closed his eyes to enjoy those echoes of fur ruffled in _just_ the right way.

But she wasn't pack. She was so wolf-deaf half the time she couldn't even hear her name as Killer yelled it at her. She could only speak back with her voice and her body.

Honey-gold glare over a dusty shoulder. _Taurus oil and strawberry shortcake!_ Killer pressed on him, a slap of scent that was the equivalent of a growled _mine_.

 _I'm not asking you to let her go, brother_ , Duo thought back, only maybe he would be, in a way. He was raising a child with bandaged eyes and letting it think it was blind.

_... Cub? Not a cub!_

In the next second, narrowly warned by that flush of intent, Duo was pitching out of his chair and diving through the door. He rolled to the side immediately, pressed up against the metal wall; Killer burst out on his heels, rocking the trailer with his leap.

Mexican stand-off. Human on one side, chest-high furmonster on the other one. They started circling. Duo tried to resist the urge to go _dun dun dunnn_.

In a real fight against a bondwolf Duo would use a knife, which massively evened out the playing field. He did not have a knife now, not even a fake one for combat training; it was just roughhousing.

He was smaller, which meant even with only two legs to push off of, he dodged faster. He managed it once, a whirling sidestep as the wolf lunged, and then pushing up on his spine to flip over his back, so jaws snapped closed on the wrong side. A shove to wolf ribs with his foot managed to move the beast, oh, two steps to the side, which really wasn't bad considering Killer outweighed him by roughly three hundred pounds and Duo could tell when he was being humored.

In the next second he had been pounced on, and was flat on his back in the dust with way too much lean muscle and moth-eaten fur crushing his legs into paste. He gurgled and wheezed as he tried to wriggle free and went exactly nowhere. Killer gave him a smug look and settled in more comfortably.

"... Fine, fine, I give!"

_Big manly dog-wolf._

"You sure are that, stud."

_Ear scritches now._

"Yes, your Majesty."

_... and chocolate._

"No, that's bad for you."

Killer just happened to coincidentally move in a way that dug his elbow into Duo's bladder.

"Ghhk. I will not break under torture! -- fine, okay, I give."

Hilde was watching them from the door and shaking her head in despair. Duo gave her a winning grin and managed somehow to squirm his way free. One of his boots stayed behind under Killer's barrel. Duo wiggled his toes thoughtfully and decided to climb on the wolf instead, so his sock wouldn't get dirty. "Come on, get me back to the trailer now."

Killer turned his head and eyed the human straddling his back with eyes sparkling in evil contemplation. Duo wondered how long he had before the wolf flipped over and steamrolled him.

Instead, with a heavy, put-upon sigh, his brother climbed to his feet and carried him back. Duo was reminded once again why wolfbrothers did not usually ride their wolves. They had really sharp spines and they pitched and rolled like boats at sea, and the long fur made things way slippery. Or maybe it was just that Duo sucked at riding. (Where the heck would he have learned, though; in the slums? At the church? (yeah, poorest orphanage ever, keeping a pony in the backyard on that nice threadbare artificial grass.) Maybe on that good old Sweepers smuggler barge the old goat G trained him and Killer in?)

Roughhousing was always fun, but... It'd probably be more fun for Killer to do it with someone in his weight class. Last longer, for one thing. He dismounted with a sigh, sat on the threshold, Hilde's steel-toed boot against his hip. She smelled like engine grease and that cheap flowery liquid sap and honest work-sweat.

He liked her a lot. She was probably one of his best friends. Also she was fun in the sack (not that _that_ happened often considering how Killer whined and squirmed about it.) Also she needed him to help run the yard...

... Yeah, needed him to man the phones on a Sunday, not because they even needed to work Sundays anymore, but because they were both workaholics and they got bored at home with nothing to do, so bored they started saying stupid shit like "Man, I miss piloting a machine of death through a bloody battlefield".

And _meaning it_. Which was the stupidest part.

She had the other employees well in hand now, anyway, had gotten their respect as someone who knew what she was talking about and not merely as a chick not even twenty yet who just happened to be backed by a wolfbrother.

"Duo?"

She didn't need them. She had other friends. Maybe she'd even get a date if Killer stopped being there to greet hopefuls at the door.

She'd miss them, though.

He looked down at his wolf, who had slumped back in his previous position, flat on his side, his back to the gap under the trailer, head propped up on the step.

Everything was dust and oil and motor grease and electric fires, truck exhaust, nose-burning burnt plastic. Nothing was worth exploring. There was no risk to take.

Everything was gray.

"We're taking Une up on her offer," he said, socked toes digging and curling into fur.

Hilde was sad, as predicted, but she wasn't surprised.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Technically this is only the first half of chapter one but I always tend to write huge chapters where I stuff in everything but the kitchen sink. I'm trying to cut down on that a bit. XD;;

Once his decision was made, Duo didn't feel like waiting on the local shuttle companies for a commercial flight that'd accommodate a bondwolf. Blahblah proof of up-to-date vaccinations blahblah what do you mean you're not registered with a military or law agency blahblah I'm sure it can fit in a normal Doberman cage in the luggage hold with the other pets oh what do you mean no it won't well in that case we might have enough space sometime by the end of next week and no need to be rude.

Luckily that same day a Sweeper salvage ship was leaving for the Moon; he knew none of the crew personally, but gossip was a hard currency amongst spacers, and they had a berth for him and Killer for nothing but some manual labor and a few war stories.

Also Killer didn't have to travel in a box. Always a plus.

Duo had only bothered to shoot Une a quick "coming down" email before they left, with no flight information, and they wasted a half-day exploring the Serenity park and its weird moon rocks and moss, and enjoying the low gravity -- nothing Killer liked better than doing a triple somersault for virtually no reason, the weirdo -- before hopping on another decidedly not commercial ship. Which was why it was a bit surprising to leave the docks, throwing a last hand/tail wave combo at the crew, and then to turn around and see Wufei Chang waiting for them in his nice Preventer uniform.

He hadn't gotten much taller since the last time they'd met, the poor bastard, though his shoulders had widened minutely. He still wore his hair in a ponytail so tight it probably accounted for two third of his tension headaches -- heck, it gave Duo a tension headache just looking at him. He still had that cynical look on his face, black eyes half-lidded in a permanent expression of unsurprised contempt, a downward quirk on thin, pinched lips.

He also had the biggest bondwolf Duo had ever been acquainted with sitting right beside him, cream and rust-red and black in vivid patterns and a mane like a lion.

Two years later they still didn't seem to fit.

"... Did you give him a perm so his fur would fluff out? He looks all shampooed up."

"He likes to run through car washes," Wufei shot back, deadpan. Duo choked on a startled laugh.

The wolves were looking at each other, Killer with his head low and his ears tilted doubtfully back, but already inching before Duo like he might need to protect him, the other wolf sitting regal with his feet perfectly placed, maybe a little curious behind the calm.

 _New one. Greeting._ Almost words, wrapped up in a sense of _patience_ , something Duo might translate as 'I have no desire to fight you, though if you start it I have no issue with finishing it.'

Killer lifted the undertone from his mind and his ruff started prickling up, his tail stiffened. He didn't growl; he never did, when he meant it. Duo caught a fistful of fur and gave a tug. _No fighting. Spaceport. Nobody's turf._

Wufei's left eyebrow arched pointedly. "Friendly."

"Oh, shut up." Duo had to breathe in and out, shed his wolf's unease and irritation, that itch to know where they stood, if the not-quite-stranger was an enemy or an alpha or an inferior to protect or what. He didn't want to start arguing with Wufei, they had enough potential issues that might blow up at the merest wrong touch and Duo really wanted to let sleeping wolves lie.

Even though it still stuck in his throat that the last time he'd been on the same battlefield as Wufei they'd been on opposite sides of it.

_Enemy?_

_No. Just -- no, no. He was being stupid. A stupid puppy. Grown up now._

Duo was grown up too, damn it. He could totally be the bigger man.

Okay. Deep breath. Step forward. Offer hand. "Hey, oh-five."

He was greeted by silence, for a second, two, and then the red and black wolf tilted his head to look up at Wufei and Wufei nodded a slow, deep-in-thought nod and took his hand. "Hey, oh-two."

Shake. Duo couldn't help but fling him a smirk; _hah, the iceman unbent!_ kind of thought.

_Iceman used to be (corditenitroglycerineblood) Yuy, I seem to remember._

"--Gack."

And now Wufei was smirking back, thin and mocking, playful like a tiger would be -- run or fight you'd end up savaged either way, but at least the tiger would have fun. "You're broadcasting."

"Aw, shut up. I'm not! It's not like I -- how the fuck does it even work?"

Wufei shrugged. "Killer speaks to Glenfiddich, who speaks to me?"

Duo transferred his glare on his brother. Killer flipped an ear back in annoyance. _Not! Not talking._ The red and black wolf snorted; it sounded like one of Wufei's snorts, not out of any need to sneeze, just a need to underline his incredulous amusement.

"You've been Killer's brother longer than I've been Glenfiddich's. You should know this." _Concern_ came through before he could get offended, and Wufei's eyes, sober for once, not mocking or distant. Duo breathed out and tried to loosen the muscles in his shoulders without being too obvious about it.

"Yeah, well, not like there's a big pack up there to chat with." He sighed, looked at Glenfiddich straight on. His markings were really sharply delimited, more like a German Shepherd's black saddle than a wolf's more blurred coat, but then again Killer did have some facial markings that came out a bit Husky at the edges. He supposed that was what came out of centuries of semi-controlled breeding. He offered his hand, palm up, shushing Killer's unease, ignoring the way he pushed his muzzle close so he could counter-bite if Glenfiddich made a wrong move. "Hey, Glen. Nice to meet you properly."

The scent of alcohol filled his nose, sharp and smooth, and hints of some big Earth animal -- exhaustion-sweat through fur -- over snow. "Stag," Wufei said, and then rolled his eyes a bit. "Stag and whisky. His official name is 'Evening at a Hunting Lodge on the Last Day of Deer Season'."

Duo cracked up. Just pure and simple cracked up, folding in two as he choked on uncontrollable giggles. He knew Killer was head-tilting at him in confusion (the fuck were those mouth-noises so funny), and he knew the rare people who had any reason to pass by -- mostly spaceport employees carrying things around -- were just plain stopping by to stare at the tableau, but he -- the way Wufei had rolled his eyes as he recited it, and the _name_ , oh god, the name.

"Ah, phew, sorry. It's just -- so _snooty_." He spared the wolf a half-apologizing, half-laughing look. "The scent's fine, Glen, it's just -- official name? I thought that was Glenfiddich?"

"Glenfiddich is his call name. His registration name is a transcript of his scent name. Between you and me, he'll make me an alcoholic before I'm even old enough to drink." Wufei gave his brother a narrow-eyed, half-serious glare. Glenfiddich lolled his tongue. Alright, so dogs and wild wolves might not but bondwolves definitely laughed that way too; Duo made note, and let go of that particular little niggling worry.

 _Old yellowing paper and mineral oil_ , Glen offered, Wufei's scent name, and Killer grudgingly replied with Duo's own _ozone and burnt wires from a sparking engine_.

In wordless agreement Wufei turned on his heel to go and Duo fell into step with him, the men side by side and their brothers flanking them on the outside -- and rarely used corridors or not it was crazy how much that cleared the way.

"I take it Killer doesn't have a registration name?"

"He's not even registered. Shit, what'd his name oughta be? Broken-down car abandoned on the street in a colony with shitty climate control?"

"I don't even have his -- oh. Thank you, Killer." Wufei shook his head a bit, as if that could clear his nose of _hot asphalt and rust on steel_.

"Yeah, sorry, he's loud. Had to push kinda hard for Hilde to hear him."

"No matter." Wufei kept striding ahead; he checked his watch and the cynical humor fell away, replaced by distant professionalism. Duo stuck his hands in his pockets and slouched, strangely disappointed. "He'll learn to modulate. Une's waiting for us."

+

The Preventers building was pretty new. Duo supposed the war had made sure a lot of old fussy edifices in Brussels were leveled; left a lot of space to build right in the center of town. There was an office tower, pointy and vaguely Eiffel-ish in shape, if much shorter, and a low complex spreading all over the block behind it; gymnasium, shooting range, motor pool, and probably training grounds or whatever else out of sight behind the buildings.

The receptionist didn't look twice as Killer went sniffing all around the lobby with almost frenzied interest. Duo's attempt to get issued a visitor badge kept getting interrupted with _blood! bitch wolf scent! another bitch wolf scent! spiciest curry! yummiest donut I want a donut now! male and old male and new male and **cubs**! _ Wufei and Glenfiddich waited nearby for him to be done, watching Duo's brother zoom by and probably laughing themselves breathless behind their bland lying faces.

"Okay, if you're done with the three-rings circus, buddy, we're going this way."

Killer let Duo clip a visitor ID collar on him with barely a flicker of puzzlement, but his enthusiasm took a nosedive when they crossed through the security gates. There were glass doors to go through and it was like suddenly they were in enemy territory; he had to check out the hospital-sized elevator before he let Duo in it, and even then he was tense, head low and walking all slinky.

_Hot-asphalt-rust-on-steel?_

_... wolves there._

_Uh. Wolves outside too._ Duo didn't get it. He'd certainly been bombarded with enough distinct scents to be aware of it. A dozen must have gone through the lobby in the last month only.

_... passing through. Not **territory**._

_Oh. And from here on it's their territory._

Killer pressed against his side, responding only with a sense of _unease_ and _trapped_. Duo slung his arm over his brother's shoulders and scritched his flank.

_Mission_ _? In-fil-tration?_

He sounded hopeful, too, like storming through an enemy base stealing intel and ammo and leaving bombs and dead officers in exchange was more comfortable than coming in all polite to meet the locals properly. _Oh god no, it's not a mission, you are not coming out of the elevator like a murderjack-in-the-box._

Glen stretched his neck before Wufei, sniffed at Killer's nose, making a questioning sort of whine-bark noise. Killer's ears went flat and his golden-brown stare cold, direct. Measuring. He'd probably learned it from Duo; it wasn't a challenge, per se, the way it should have been. It was... colder, more calculating than that. Killing mindset, all locked up. Duo tightened his hold on his brother's ruff. "Killer. _No_."

"Glenfiddich can't feel him in the pack sense." Wufei frowned, eyeing the two wolves. "What's the problem?"

The elevator went ding before Duo could answer. He braced himself, blocked Killer's way with a knee before his chest; not like it'd stop the wolf if he put any more weight in it. "So. Er. How far is it to Une's?"

Wufei hadn't become a Gundam pilot by being slow-witted. "... I'll lead the way and make sure people stay in their offices."

He slipped out of the elevator, immediately went against a wall so he wouldn't be in Killer's way, so Killer wouldn't feel trapped. Duo allowed his brother to drag him out.

Of course he went the wrong way, yanking Duo to an office door three doors down and sniffing stealthily at the bottom of it. Behind it Duo could hear a curious whine. Aw fuck.

"Lambert, Razor, stay in," Wufei said from way behind them -- normal speaking voice, like the man would hear him fine through the wood... oh.

It was real weird to think of _Wufei Chang_ , loner extraordinaire, as hooked into any pack mind. Duo wondered if he'd only bothered to speak aloud so Duo could tell he had. ... Or maybe it was just that the wolf inside could hear the words and relay them to his brother.

Great first impression. Just great. His irritation and embarrassment slipped through; Killer flinched.

_You are not fighting any wolf or human here. Not any. Now just **trust** me already!_

Killer's ears flattened down. _Trust!_ was shoved back at him, wounded and absolute, only there was still an edge of _unsafe, enemy, notmine,_ and... fuck, but he'd been trained for that just as long as Duo had. Duo'd been thinking in the back of his head, where he thought Killer wouldn't know, about how most of those guys used to be Specials or OZ or even Romafeller.

Wolves _could_ lie mind to mind, but they rarely saw the need, not strongly enough to become proficient at it, and if Duo himself hated lying he wasn't going to teach his brother how to, beside; whenever Duo had any infiltration mission that needed him to pass amongst wolves he went alone, without his brother. When Killer met any other wolves on their own turf it was usually to kill them.

He was really good at it.

 _Summer breeze through the city_ , Duo pushed at him, hard, and _bird up in a tree_.

 _Where?_ Killer returned, looking around like just maybe they'd be turning the corner in a second. Wincing, Duo pulled on his ruff a bit to get him to follow. After a long second of deliberation Killer allowed it to move him, though he gave the closed door and its stranger-wolf smells a long, wary look.

 _No, not here, just... You got along with them. Didn't fight. Friends. It was good, wasn't it?_ He knew the difference, though; they'd been allies' brothers and they hadn't met on each other's turf to start with, and there hadn't been so many of them that Killer felt surrounded. _Friends here too. It'll be good. Promise._

Side by side if not quite touching, Wufei and Glen were holding up the wall a couple doors down and not-staring at them in a way that was so deliberate it had Duo twitching. Godfuckingdamnit, of all the people Duo didn't want to...

 _...hell is going on?_ came from a voice he didn't know, and _Just stay inside for fuck's sake_ and _The Fuzz says_ and a mess of other thoughts, impressions, _who? notpack hostile wary dangerous who' sdominant?_ and smells and flashes of vision, a jumble of offices seen from the carpet and a training room and the sidewalk zooming underneath at a trot and, oh, god.

And they were alone again. Killer had gone stiff and his fur was up from ruff to tail-tip.

"... Okay. Une. Now." Only he was starting to really wonder if she'd still want the both of them, if she wasn't going to take one look at them and put back that phone he'd heard ringing in her office a couple seconds ago and just say never mind, no, go.

 _Wolves everywhere_ , Killer told him, and pressed hard against his side, like he was still small enough to hide his head under his arm.

"Shh."

 _Trust_ , Killer said, and then, quietly, _Scared._

Glen exchanged a look with Wufei, and then went at a trot to the other end of the corridor, the nice important door with the golden plaque on it, manipulated the handle with an experienced twist of his jaws. Wufei held his hands behind his back, casual and relaxed, and waited to see which side Killer would decide he got to walk on, Killer's or Duo's, before he fell into step with them. (Killer chose to let Duo have him, which had Duo's fingers scritch sadly behind his ear; it was rare when his brother needed to be protected more than he needed to do the protecting.)

Duo expected Wufei to make a remark all the way down to Une's office, only he never did.

He let Wufei walk in first, ( _safe-ally-recon)_ , and then he followed. Killer slinked in last, and then Duo closed the door, safe from attacks from behind.

"Agent Chang, what -- ah, Mister Maxwell. Killer. It's always a pleasure to see you."

Yeah, right. Hah.

Une was of course seated behind a big important desk with a huge wall-to-wall window at her back that had Duo's shoulders tight with the thought of snipers, even if there was no doubt the glass was a dozen inches thick and reinforced beside and all viewpoints monitored. Smooth shiny loose hair, neat pantsuit, screaming professional-but-not-military down to her polished fingertips -- only she wasn't seated with perfect poise to match her dry greeting, she had Glen's heavy head on her shoulder and was wrist-deep in his fur, giving his neck practiced scritchies. When Wufei came to a stop before her desk she slowly let her hands fall; the look they traded was... weird, just weird.

 _Sword oil and crushed rose petals_ , Killer shared cautiously, confused, and it wasn't the name of anyone in the room but it was so present Duo could almost smell it himself. He could swear he used to know who...

Oh. Right.

Must be awkward to see your old commander's brother attached to the guy who killed him.

 _Rather, yes_ , came Wufei's response, sharp but tired, worn.

(Wufei at fifteen and barely awake, having crashed for twelve hours after the last battle and yet looking even more exhausted than before he'd gone to bed somehow, wiry muscles in sharp relief from constant exercise and too little food and tight with anger, black eyes burning as the Treize Faction representatives tried to stare him down, appalled at his hand clutching white-knuckled at rust-red fur. 'He chose me,' was all he'd said, and Duo had wrapped both his arms around Killer's neck to make sure he didn't jump out of the shadows of the gangway overhead because he didn't know who his brother would savage, the strangers come to take back a corpse or the wolf stealing one of Duo's almost-pack.)

 _It's not your fault that grandstanding bastard used you to commit suicide!_ , Duo tried to send back, but he wasn't sure how or whether Killer was relaying and Wufei's expression didn't shift any way that might have shown he'd heard.

Aw, hell. Whatever. Later. "Milady. Hey. Nice digs."

"Thank you," Une replied, deadpan, eyebrows faintly raised.

Une's scent name, Glen politely reminded them, was _marble in shadows where blood has dried._ Cheerful.

"Thank you, Agent Chang. If you could...?"

"I'll get him settled in one of the dormitories. Come on, Glenfiddich."

They left. Duo felt strangely bereft. On one side of the desk, a hellbeast with all-devouring teeth and claws. On the other side, Duo and his poor bondpuppy. It was crazy how short on backup he felt.

Killer nipped him. Duo bit back a smile.

"Sit down, please." He sat. "You might want to start with whatever happened out there."

Aw, hell. Straight away with the hard questions. Then again it kind of _was_ a potential dealbreaker, so. Okay, maturity and honesty, he could do that. "Kinda went into hostile territory mode." He sighed, raked his hand through his bangs. (Huh, time for a trim, he could stick them behind his ears.) "He's just not used to so many wolves at once. Or so many people, for that matter."

"Hm." Une was frowning, tapping on her lip thoughtfully as she watched his brother, who'd gotten bored with the discussion already and was wandering around the room tracking things. "Lack of proper socialization. In your opinion, is that something that can be remedied?" She speared him with a penetrating look. "Without any serious injury?"

"If I say no?" Duo retorted, scowling back. Couldn't fault her, but after all the harassment she'd subjected him to --

"I refer you to a trainer of my acquaintance. Off campus, as it were." And then seeing his face she smiled thinly. "Did you think I would let go of the chance to have another Gundam Pilot in my employ so easily?"

Duo huffed his exasperation and relaxed in his chair. "How many of those do you have, by the way? Anywhere close to a complete set?"

"Alas, Mister Winner is quite busy with his... little business," Duo snorted, "and as for Mister Yuy's whereabouts..."

The look she sent him next was clear, a little softer, a little chagrined. She'd been hoping he knew.

It pinched a bit, because he'd been hoping she would, too. She was the one with the spy network. He was the one Heero didn't consider a close enough friend to keep in touch with.

No, that wasn't quite fair; as far as Duo knew Heero hadn't kept in touch with any of the other pilots, anyone from the war. Maybe Relena would know, wasn't she his almost-girlfriend or something? but it wasn't like Duo was close enough friends with _her_ to ask. Also she was kind of Vice-Foreign Minister by now, he seriously doubted a random message from some wretched has-been war vet on L2 would make it through her secretary.

It was really weird to think of where the people he used to know had ended up.

"... But you've got Trowa?"

"Mister Barton is currently on assignment, but yes, he and his brother are part of the Preventers."

Duo almost smiled, lips twitching. He could tell _she_ could tell, she didn't hide her own.

_Ozone and burnt wires and sparking engine?_

_Trowa and Coyote, man! Been a while, huh._

Killer smacked him in the face with a tangle of scents that felt almost excited, if scents could have feelings. As always, it was hard to untangle Trowa's name from his brother's. Duo just wasn't good with trees; it all smelled foresty to him. He was a city brat! He just knew one of them had a pine tree -- Trowa -- and his brother had some kind of bird along with his own not-pine tree.

... But anyway. "So. Sales pitch?"

"Do I need to give you one? You're aware of the salary I would pay you, and the other, ah, less tangible advantages."

Killer was chewing on one of her houseplants when she glanced at him to make a point.

"...Like proper housebreaking," she continued dryly. Duo's cheeks started burning.

"Okay fine. Lodgings?"

"All new agents are housed on base for a duration of a year. Mandatory. After that time period they can request to stay on base or move out. Agent Chang will show you around. I've heard it said most find it satisfactory."

Duo could guess from her expression that she would waive it for him only if Killer started leaving chewed-up trainee tidbits on the carpet. And again, maybe not even then. Whatever, Killer did need to socialize and Duo had never really cared where he slept so long as it was out of the rain and (luxury of luxuries!) not on a hard surface.

They went into other tedious things like vacation time and available union affiliation that he didn't give a shit about. Killer had wandered off to another plant. He seemed to be looking for the best one to purge with. Goddamnit. _Stop that. Come here._

_... Bored._

_Yeah, me too, but stop eating her plants, she'll pitch you through the window one-handed, I swear to God._

Killer was probably as heavy as her massive oak desk. He eyed the woman dubiously, and slinked his way to Duo's chair.

"Okay. All well and good. Mm, that delicious legalese. What would we actually _do_?"

She leaned forward, hands crossed before her chin, spearing him with her eyes. "It does depend greatly on whether you've retained the skills that used to make the five of you such a force to be reckoned with."

Duo stiffened in offense.

"Which we will know at the end of the mandatory month of training with the other new recruits. Which you will _not_ try to wiggle out of. Three other new agents in this batch have brothers of their own. Killer will integrate faster with them than with long-established pack dynamics."

Goddamn, but that wolfless woman read minds better than most wolf-brothers would have.

"I don't plan on giving you the run of the mill missions, Oh-two."

His immediate reaction to her quiet, intense voice was embarrassing. Mostly just _oh yes please_ , and a reaction near physical to the thought of the adrenaline highs waiting for him. Killer had looked up, eyes gleaming, expectant.

_We hunt?_

_Not yet,_ he had to say, reluctantly.

Oh please, make it soon.

It was then that he fully accepted that the Devil Witch-Woman from OZ had him by the short hairs, and perfectly knew it. She didn't even need to ask before getting out the paperwork and sliding it across the desk for him to fill.

"Agent Chang will explain the details to you. Welcome to the Preventers, Trainee Maxwell Killersbrother."


	3. Chapter 3

Duo'd been expecting flimsy affairs, just four wood-or-steel supports at the corners and see-through slats on the sides; but the bunk beds in the dorm looked more like what you'd find in a spaceship, save for standing in rows instead of being bolted to the walls. The lower bunks were close to the ground, almost entirely enclosed save for half a side left open and an aeration grate at the foot, like the lack of gravity might turn out to be a concern in the middle of the night. The upper bunks had no "ceiling", as it were, so if Duo sat up in one he'd be visible from mid-chest up, but it was still more cover than he'd expected, and enabled him to just roll over the guardrail from three different sides for ease of escape.

He jumped off the ladder and peered inside the lower bunk. It was noticeably wider than the top one, and the thin mattress stood barely calf-high. "Huh. Wolf cave, is it?"

"Most of the wolves like to pile up together in the middle of the room, but..." Wufei shrugged, eyed Killer, who was investigating the carpet over there, ears tilted back doubtfully. "Most also like their space from time to time. If it's really necessary you can use one of the attached rooms over there, but it has to stay for emergency use. They also serve as whelping rooms or for wolves recuperating after an injury, so there needs to be at least two free at all times."

Duo nodded, tried not to let his brow furrow. He'd chosen the farthest unoccupied bunk, tucked all the way in the far corner --  they were on the first floor so the window would work as an emergency exit, and Duo could probably even use it as an emergency entry point, though getting Killer in through there would require more work than strictly necessary for a building they weren't supposed to infiltrate. He wasn't sure it'd be distance enough.

"Over there is the rec room, a couple of smaller offices in case you need to work without distractions -- you have your own laptop?"

"Mmh." It was in his backpack, which was getting heavy, even though Duo was traveling with the bare minimum. He dumped it in the locker at the head of the bed and pocketed the key. It felt strangely meaningful.

"Some of the men share the lower bunks with their brothers. Cramped, but..."

Duo snorted. "We used to share cardboard boxes. It'll do fine."

Wufei shifted his weight minutely, a flicker of embarrassment that Duo guessed at more than he truly read on his stone face.

"So which one is your bunk?" he asked with a 'trust me, I'm trustworthy and not planning anything!' campy grin.

"Maxwell, I'm an officer." Faint smirk. "I rate a single."

Damn, thwarted. Duo grimaced at him. "I'm not calling you sir, that'd be way too fucking weird."

Wufei shrugged. _For me too/abnormal/I'd think you're mocking me._

Duo grinned a big unrepentant grin. _Probably would be!_

From the way Wufei's eyebrow arched and then quirked in mock-irritation, this one had gone through as planned. Awesome. (Glen had wandered off somewhere to do god knew what -- made Duo wonder if maybe they were the codependent ones, always doing shit together -- and Killer wasn't even paying attention, which made him wonder once again how the telepathy thing even worked between wolfbrothers, if their wolves _weren't_ actively relaying shit.)

Also it made him hope a little bit that maybe he and Wufei could become real buddies. Fellow Gundam pilots was a pretty tight bond already, but not always a comfortable one.

"Okay, good! I know where to sleep and where to find food and all those fun curfew hours and other regulations." He parked his butt on a convenient rung and crossed his arms, stared at Wufei who still stood at the foot of the bed like he had nothing better to do with his day than hang out. "Awesome. Totally something I couldn't have figured out from a couple flyers, too. Now tell me about that other shoe you're waiting to drop on me, yeah?"

Wufei gave him a slow blink, and then a dry snort. "I'd forgotten you could be quite that pessimistic."

Didn't deny it, though. Duo quirked an eyebrow. "Fair warning, buddy. Tell me you're just staying to socialize -- during _work hours --_ and I'll laugh my ass off at you. Might give myself a hernia, even."

"It's nothing so dire, I just figured you'd prefer hearing it from me than from the drill instructor in two days. First there's the uniform regulations--"

" _I'm not cutting my goddamn braid._ "

An unimpressed, ironic look. "Has my own ponytail suddenly become invisible? No, shut up about how tight it is and that you thought my skull was just painted that color, I've heard it all before."

Duo obediently closed his mouth. He pinched his lips, too, else he'd probably start laughing. Now which suicidal idiot had said it in Wufei's earshot? Even Duo had never dared to go that far.

(Urgh, he hoped he hadn't accidentally telepathed that at him.)

"Preventers was founded by three women, two of which have long hair. It was never even in the regs. I don't see you going on assignment with your hair loose anyway, so it won't be a problem. No, it's about Killer."

At the other end of the room, nose in a bunk that most certainly did not belong to him, Killer rotated his ear in their direction. _Keep out of there or they'll probably bite you,_ Duo sent, knowing better than to bother trying to get a wolf to understand 'don't do it to them if you wouldn't like them doing it to you'.

"What about the Furmeister?"

"He looks like he was dragged backward through a hedge," Wufei threw bluntly. "And he's dusty. I don't know your old grooming habits, Maxwell, but he needs a wash, and he most certainly needs a brushing."

Duo's cheeks started burning.

The next second Killer was trotting back to him, head low and pointing forward, looking like he was about to revoke Wufei's tentative 'non-edible' status. For a second Duo hadn't been able to help remembering being eight year old in borrowed clothes and being told he smelled. Killer hadn't liked it much better back then; Father had to lock him in the cellar for the next week as Duo went back to school, or half-grown, awkward cub or not, there would have been an incident in the school yard. (Another incident, that was. A worse one than a mere children's brawl.)

Wordlessly, Duo held out his hand; Killer veered around Wufei at the last second and ambled to him, though he kept watching Wufei from the corner of his eye even as he wound himself around Duo. Scritching behind his ear, Duo had to admit Wufei was right. Killer looked half-wild. Hell, even wild wolves were better groomed, because they didn't taste like motor oil and could do it themselves. (" _Gutter trash, smelly, piggy, you stink like a sewer._ ")

"A weekly brushing is part of regulations," Wufei continued as if he hadn't noticed, even though there was no way he hadn't; "more if he sheds a lot. Washing is only supposed to be when they get themselves dirty, I'll spare you the lesson on fur and natural oils. The supermarket on the next block sells wolf shampoo, in case you're low, but if you need a specific brand you'll have to ask our vet."

Whenever Duo washed Killer it was always with the harshest soap, because nothing else would get the gasoline stains out.

Bam! A slap of ozone and burning wires to the nose.

_... What?_

_No! Bad puppy stop._

_What?!_

_Not a 'shittiest brother'! Mine. Mine, so best._

Duo chuckled faintly and wrinkled a velvety ear between his fingers. "Okay, okay. Well then! Sorry buddy, I know you liked the moon rock dust, but it's gonna have to go."

Killer tilted his head at him in confusion. Duo chuckled and ruffled his ears, making him grumble and nip his hand. Then he felt like he could look up.

Thing was, Duo knew Wufei was being considerate, in his way, because if it hadn't been him saying it, it would have been the drill instructor, and likely in front of the other recruits. Still mortifying, mind.

Their eyes met. They stared for a couple of seconds.

"Glen will show him the best car washes," Wufei said, perfectly deadpan. Duo sputtered.

"Oh god, don't tell me he really does, I thought you were kidding."

"He's been known to try. Sadly, there are often actual cars in the way." Wufei allowed himself a tiny, barely there smile. Duo cackled. "Mostly he likes to bite at the jets of water."

"Cute. Killer just bitches me out when I get any in his ears. Or up his nose. Or anywhere on him, actually. Alright then, let's go get wet! Urr, only I'm not sure where to find towels and crap. Should probably buy my own, huh."

"I'll lend you some for today." Wufei took a step back, curled his hand in invitation to follow. Duo gave Killer a pat and went to catch up. "When you're done you should go to Requisitions and get your uniform and Killer's new tags, you won't have time to go before they close."

"Okay, that works. Guess I'll go shopping afterwards then."

"Oh, no," Wufei said, all silky and immediately raising a dozen alarm flags in Duo's head. "Once you're done with _that_ your colleagues will be waiting to meet you."

Duo had to stop on the doorstep and give his emergency exit window a longing look, hands clenching on both sides of the doorway only halfway for the purpose of melodrama. "Oh good lord. Think that ship that took us down is still docked?"

Wufei snorted at him. "Don't make me get Glenfiddich to sit on you. He weighs approximately the same as a Leo. You'd come out very streamlined."

 _Old whisky and deer on snow sits on you, I bite,_ Killer assured him cheerfully, and headbutted him in the back, popping him through the doorway like a cork. _Only a **little** flat._

+

Two hours later Duo was in possession of a clean, if still somewhat damp brother (Killer hated the hairdryer), a clean if still _really_ damp ass-length braid (of course Killer had shared the joys of showering, and once he was done getting washed and more dry than not he wanted to be gone from that devil place straight away,) drenched civilian clothes in a plastic bag, two clean and pressed uniforms (one in a clothes bag, one on himself -- quartermaster had insisted; the jacket was okay and he was used to high shirt collars, but dear lord did he hate the way the slacks pulled too tight across his ass like they'd split if he had to kick someone in the face) and a stack of papers to fill to complete Killer's registration.

"... 'che," he grumbled to himself as he trudged after his wolf back to the dormitory. Killer gave a perfunctory flick of his ear to pretend he was listening, nose to the ground tracking some fascinating bit of ancient history. "I don't get how 'I'm from L2' explains why all my papers are either fake or three year old at best and that's fine, but when it's about you, it's all _le gasp what do you mean you don't even know his dam's name how is that even possible you must be mistaken_."

"You don't know his dam's name?" a man asked, leaning in through an open floor-level window. Duo jumped.

"Gack! Don't startle me."

The man laughed as he leaned his elbow on the window. He was young, twenty, twenty-two, Asian-looking but in the way Heero was -- European ancestry somewhere in there. Button-up shirt, Preventer badge pinned to his chest. "Sorry, sorry. New hire?"

Duo ambled up to him to offer his hand. Might as well be polite. "Yeah, just got in this morning. Duo Maxwell, and the lump over there is Killer."

"Adan Makisig," the man replied as he took Duo's hand, and then suddenly there was a cream-furred head bursting through the window and big fuzzy paws scrabbling for purchase. Duo jerked back out of reach, yanking his hand free and reaching instinctively for the gun at the small of his back that he wasn't carrying.

_!!! dry earth and rocks and rabbit !!! hi hi smellweird (cannedair metalweird) wanttosmell hi!_

" _Killer, **incoming!**_ " Duo yelled. His brother screeched to a stop in a shower of dust and pebbles and threw himself flat on the ground. Duo had never been as grateful for ingrained training as he was now. He took in a shuddering breath and took a single, long step to his brother, crouched down with a knee on his neck to keep him pinned down, even as Killer started snarling, _no shrapnel no bomb liar!_

_Puppy!_ Duo snarled back. _Puppy! Just a puppy. Look, he's tiny._ From the angle at which the other wolf leaned on that window he was barely German Shepherd-sized, if that much; probably wasn't even six months old.

The man at his side had a hand on his brother's head to keep him from jumping through the window, and was blinking in mildly alarmed confusion. "Er. Something wrong?"

"Uh." Duo sighed, ran a hand over his face. He patted his brother a last time and straightened up, keeping a close eye on the wolf, but Killer's thoughts had gone from _dispatch threat_ to grumpy _who-the-heck-are-you_. Duo let his wolf get back up and make his slow, cautious way to the window, neck stretched. "Sorry. He's ... kind of on a hair trigger right now. New territory, new people, etcetera."

The window ledge was about chest-high on Duo, which meant Killer's head barely had to point up to meet the cub's.

_Hi! Newone bigwolf ewsoapysmell._

_Not my fault! Mean mean ozone-and-sparks-and-engine, all wet and **scentless** now hrrrn. Hi._

They were touching noses, big gray head and smaller, rounder cream, and two black wet nose tips. Duo couldn't help grinning, relaxing all at once. So cute. "What's his name?"

Makisig blinked, erasing the worried frown on his face as he looked from Killer to his brother. "--Oh, right. This is Chiquito. So called because he used to be the smallest of the litter." A playful eyeroll. "Look at him now, he's four months old and big enough to be five."

Duo laughed, half from amusement and half from relief, that this was going well, that it _could_ go well.

Hell, if Killer was relearning friendliness then Duo could relearn turning on the charm, maybe. He grinned up at the other man. "I did that the other way around. When I named Killer he was this little round ball of fuzz that couldn't even walk in a straight line but was, like, _fated_ to slay all dustbunnies in the Earth Sphere. I thought it was hilarious. Then I turn around and suddenly he comes up to my ribs. Whoops, less ironic now."

Chiquito's tail wagged so hard even his shoulders quivered. Killer gave a hesitant wag of his own, and a second one in a wider, more confident arc, and propped his chin on the windowsill to sniff farther inside. Makisig sighed, good-humored.

"Alright, I'm not going to get any more work done for now. 'Scuse me, Mister Killer." He sat on the edge of the window and swung his legs over, landed just in time to catch his cub bodily as Chiquito wriggled through after him. "Hey! No jumping from high up for you yet. Oof."

Seeing the two wolves side by side it was even more obvious Chiquito was still very young; he was fuzzy and plushy-furred all over and round-bodied and his paws were huge compared to the rest of him. He could walk under Killer's barrel without needing to hunker down more than a couple of inches. Killer jerked when he did it and sidestepped, but it seemed more reflexive unease and confusion than true, aggression-edged wariness.

After that of course it was butt-sniffing time. Urk. "Thanks for sharing, buddy."

_Shh quiet. Important smells!_

"Yeah, I'd say. So, the pup likes burritos?"

Makisig gave a guilty snicker. "Probably shouldn't let him have them, but oh, the soulful eyes. Anyways, you were going somewhere?"

"Yeah, training grounds, to meet some of the pack. Agent Chang was supposed to meet me there, couple more guys..."

"Well then, come on, I'll show you the way."

Duo could have found it on his own, wasn't like the grounds map was that complex, but he couldn't stop stealing glances at Killer and grinning a little wider every time he caught the furmonster giving the dancing, bouncing cub a confused look and hesitantly following after him. Chiquito's thoughts were wide open, wordless, scattered, though if they had been any more constructed they would have been a litany of delighted _play! play!_.

Killer wasn't playing yet, seemed kind of baffled by the concept to be honest, or -- since he did play with Duo -- the lack of concrete knowledge about how one went about playing with other wolves. Which was sad, but Duo didn't doubt the puppy would show him.

The wolves' yard was behind the dormitory. There were a couple of outdoors tables and benches off to the sides, and a lot of grass, and some agility contraptions that Killer might like testing himself against.

There were also a trio of adult wolves on them, jumping walls and shuffling along balancing beams and zigzagging between poles. One of them was a huge brindled male, possibly as big as Glenfiddich, only with Glen you could tell some of the volume was merely fur. With this one, not so much. Duo stopped at the edge of the yard to watch, Killer gone still at his side, ears up. The cub butt-wriggled his way back to them, whining in confusion and _why'dyoustop whywhywhyyy_.

"... Looks like Chang isn't here yet!" Duo said through a smile he didn't mean anymore. There were people at the tables, two women and two men, turning to look at the both of them, an older wolf sprawled on the grass beside them. Duo gave them a nod, now they'd seen him, but didn't move to them, let Killer decide.

Chiquito bounced his way to the resting wolf, and cautiously Killer followed, picking his steps through the grass like each tuft might be hiding a tiger pit. Duo went with, hands in his pockets and glad that the other people weren't getting up, were letting Duo and his brother come to them.

"Hey there!" one of the women greeted, Black with her hair pulled back tight in a way that almost matched Wufei's, only Wufei's ponytail didn't puff out like a dandelion. Twenty-five or thirty, high domed forehead, scar on her eyebrow concomitant with busted brow ridge _why was he noting down her description and identifying features_. "Lissie Wangai Sharksister."

Heh, traditional. Though the formal name was a bit softened by an amused gleam in her eyes. Duo gave her a mock-serious little bow. "Duo Maxwell Killersbrother, nice to meetcha."

He shook her hand -- overly firm grip, gun calluses -- watching the other wolves from the corner of his eye. They'd stopped playing and now stood unmoving on the equipment, heads turned to look back at the humans. Killer was very cautiously sniffing the gray wolf's nose, this time staying out of reach of a quick bite. Duo knew he'd only gone that far because the cub was still going back and forth between them, all friendliness and glee.

"Hey. That your brother?" Duo asked to the man who got up next, hand held out in greeting and eyes suspicious and narrowed in a way that screamed nothing if not cop. Made Duo want to slouch and grin in a way that dared him to prove he'd stolen anything today, only that was kind of counterproductive. He put on another smile, a nicer one. "He's got the prettiest coat I've ever seen." He really did; the gray was uniform on his whole body save for the black legs and muzzle, blueish with white-tipped guard hairs so he looked like gunmetal threaded in silver.

"Mnh. Hassan Benziane." A nod to the gray wolf. "Smoke."

The other two were Mathias Gustafson, over thirty and indeterminately white -- "Pussycat's the grayish-brown lump by the crawl tubes" -- and Safiya Dagher, with her bronzed skin and short flyaway black hair, who made him think of a North-African Dorothy Catalonia, who tilted her head the same way and at the same instant as the gold-beige bitch. Which meant the brindled tank of a dog-wolf was Wangai's Shark.

"Chang's not here yet?"

"Something came up," Wangai replied with a shrug, even as Benziane grunted an " _Agent_ Chang." She sneaked Benziane a quick look and quickly changed the subject. "You're in the newest trainees' batch, right? Me too."

"Yeah, us too," Makisig said with a little nervous laugh, and went to perch on the edge of the bench at Dagher's wordless invitation. Duo stayed on his feet, turning a little to watch the wolves. Weird how he hadn't caught anyone's scent-name already. He nudged Killer's mind with his, but his brother was on lock-down. It helped that Smoke hadn't bothered to stand up and was still sitting. Not aggressive, not a threat; from Smoke's brother's attitude Duo would have expected otherwise.

"Wait, Chiquito's old enough for training?" Duo remarked, to keep the conversation flowing. One of the wolves over there was quivering with tension and the need to come bouncing up to check on the newcomer; so far he'd been obeying his brother's will and stayed back, but it might not last if Duo didn't keep things relaxed. (Also it was hard to believe the cub could obey a command to sit and stay seated more than two minutes in a row.)

"Uh, well, not really -- he chose young, his sibs are nowhere near ready," Makisig said with a little flush of embarrassed pride, "but I figured... Well. I'm not actually a field agent."

"... Seriously?"

The two women and the last man laughed. "Seriously," Gustafson said. Makisig ducked his head and gave a chagrined laugh, and Gustafson chuckled, teasing. "Brand new hire. He was in the accounting pool, what, three weeks? when Bianchi moved her pups to the copy room. Which was not in any way a pain in the ass for everyone. She likes the smell of toner, the crazy thing! Cubs being cubs, they started getting themselves into everything straight away. And then bam, there it was."

A burst of vividly-remembered delighted astonishment burst through even Killer's block, blooming through the pack sense; Makisig tried to stop smiling like a soppy, besotted idiot and failed as the others grinned indulgently. Duo swallowed a teasing 'aw'. Man, the guy really was a kid, no matter that he was likely older than Duo was.

"I still don't know if I'll stay with Finances or go be a field agent, but hey, I figured, he's going to be a running machine, be nice if I could follow him at least a couple blocks before falling over. I doubt we'll go far this session, but by the next I'll have a better idea of what we want to do and he'll actually be old enough to remember all that training."

"Huh, good plan."

Silence fell. Killer had taken a step back, and was considering Smoke, head a little tilted but otherwise inscrutable. Smoke watched him back for a couple of seconds and then turned his long muzzle away and started grooming his shoulder. Duo relaxed, even though Benziane's frown deepened. His badge said he was a senior agent; Duo didn't really want to piss him off by rubbing it in his face, so he didn't smile. But still!

_... why happynow?_

... Killer didn't even know what it meant that Smoke had looked away first. Duo felt a pang of something unpleasant, painful. _He says you're stronger, see? Bigger, younger, stronger wolf. Won't fight you. It's good._

Killer's ears slowly pricked up; he took a step closer, went back to the business of sniffing Smoke, but from much closer now, nose brushing fur. Smoke grumbled but pulled himself up on all fours. Whee, butt-sniffing time again. Oh, wolf friendships.

"So, er. I was meaning to ask..."

Duo turned to Makisig, who was looking around the group with his eyebrows furrowed in something halfway between puzzlement and worry.

"The pup's not great yet with the pack sense, but... uh."

"You're starting to pick up things," Dagher prompted. She had a surprisingly low, scratchy voice. Must be a smoker.

"Uh. Yeah. So I'm going to just... go and ask. What's the issue with Maxwell and Killer?"

From the others' reactions Duo could tell they knew the general shape of things -- Wangai's little grimace, Gustafson's awkward glance away, Benziane's heavy scowl. Only Dagher didn't change expression at all, which meant she kept reminding Duo of Dorothy, which meant he was starting to wonder if she'd found the best place to stick a knife in him yet or was still deciding.

"He hasn't seen another wolf since the war, and he'd never seen any _before_ the war." Duo shrugged. "No pack, no socialization skills, which means he's got no idea how to deal, and can I thank you guys for keeping your brothers back? It's helping a lot."

Makisig might be a kid who had never been in the field, but Duo could see why a wolf had chosen him and why he was being offered a place as a field agent from the way he zeroed in on him. "... His littermates didn't teach him. You -- don't know his dam's name. You named him when he was fuzzy and couldn't walk in a straight line. You had some kind of... registration trouble..."

He didn't sound friendly and relaxed anymore, a kid excited to hang out with the cool adults -- he sounded puzzled, looked on the verge of frowning. He hesitated for a brief moment when Duo did nothing but look placidly back.

"You -- how _young_ was he when he was separated from his mother?"

"Not a clue!" Duo said with cheer he should have kept bottled up; he knew it was bad to sound flippant in this situation and it was still reflex to do it anyway, a challenge, _gonna make anything of it?_ Killer looked up at him, and his ears twitched back, his weight subtly shifted to the tip of his toes, his hips lowered in preparation for springing. Duo sank a hand in his neck fur, finding a little bit of damp under there near the skin, tried to soothe them both.

"But you've got to know if--"

"He was a Gundam Pilot," Dagher interrupted, voice almost bored, eyes sharp as blades as they flitted from Duo's clenched hand to his face. "Not really going to get the standard military experience."

"Some of us weren't military," Benziane countered, and rested an elbow on the table, loosening his spine. Smoke's hackles slowly smoothed back down.

Things were buzzing through the pack sense and Duo could get at none of them. It was an attempt at defusing, though, one Duo hadn't expected from the man. Especially since now that Makisig the newbie had been brought up to speed they all knew what he used to do during the war, huh, unexpected. Uncomfortable, too, though he should have expected it. Keeping secrets of this size in a pack would have been doomed to failure. Especially since Wufei and Trowa were plugged right in the pack sense and there was no way the rest wouldn't have known that about the two of them from really early on.

It felt like he'd dodged a bullet he hadn't known was on its way totally on accident, but he couldn't tell if someone was going to try to shoot at him again.

"Yeah?" he asked Benziane. Civil, he could do civil. He could even approximate interested. "What were you? Cop?"

Benziane dissected him with another suspicious look, and then looked away in a show of blatant disinterest -- contempt, rejection?

_No, silly puppy! No fighting, ozone-and-sparking-wires bigger meaner._

_... Oh. Wow, hey, you're right. Heh._

"Firefighter, actually."

"Huh, wouldn't have expected that."

Awkward silence. Urr. Now what.

"I was OZ," Wangai said with only barely forced cheer. "Specials, actually. Had me a nice little Taurus. Never got to be anywhere near one of you guys, though, which I am _so_ heartbroken over you have no idea! Only not really. Gus was in the UESA ground forces division." Gustafson made a moue and a slight wave of his fingers, as if to say 'no hard feelings'. (Or maybe 'I can play piano,' who the fuck could even tell. Duo could only blink.) "Dagher's the one who used to be a cop." A cheerful, white-toothed grin. "And as you've heard Makisig used to be a _baby_ _accountant_. Sorry, Maki, you're the one everyone really wonders what the heck he's doing here."

"... Hey!" Makisig drew himself up in baffled offense; Chiquito pounced on Wangai's knee, started chewing on her boot, letting out little high-pitched growls that were about as threatening as a fat housecat's purr. Duo startled himself with his own laughter.

"So," Dagher said casually once everyone was done chuckling. "Barton's a mute and Chang's a fortress, so we actually know jack shit about how you guys were trained."

"Are your wolves from the same litter?" Makisig asked. The ex-military duo of Wangai and Gustafson winced in tandem.

"Dude. Glenfiddich used to be _General Kushrenada_ 's brother. There's no way."

Well. That was harmless enough. Duo shrugged. "Nah. Different colonies. We're not all wolfbrothers anyway, only three out of five to start with, and those of us who are all came to it differently. I was there when Chang brought back Glen after the last battle, but Barton and that other guy... They're pretty much as chatty as each other so I have zero clue." Well, no, he knew Trowa had a mercenary background, it wasn't hard to figure out where the wolf came from. Heero, though...

"Huh, you weren't trained together?" Wangai asked, tilting her head.

Duo snorted, flicked her a quick smile as he weighed the pros and cons of revealing info. Surprisingly enough there were mostly pros, it wasn't like it was still relevant and it might induce them to trust him more, if they thought he wasn't acting too horribly secretive.

"Didn't even know the other guys _existed_. We all thought it was going to be a solo mission going in. Talk about a surprise. ... But anyway, wolves! If Trowa wants you to know he'll tell you, though it's just as likely that nobody asked him and he didn't figure anyone'd be interested in the story, but I think Coyote was three or four during the war. So, young adult. The third one was still half-grown."

Dagher gave him a thin smile that seemed to say how discreet he wasn't avoiding naming names; he smiled back, the same way. Wasn't his info to reveal, that one, even if someone else had already told. "How old is Killer?"

"Urr. Lemme math it up. Eleven? Yeah. Almost twelve. Wow, he's even older than Glen." And not even half as well-socialized. Duo repressed a wince, thinking about it. No doubt Kushrenada had bonded during his last years of flight officer training, seventeen or so...

"... How old are _you_?"

Aw, damn it. Time for another bright bullshitting grin. "Legal in Europe! What else matters?"

Wangai threw a meaningful look at the other woman, though Duo had no idea what it meant; it seemed to be a little charged anyway because after a few seconds of staring at each other Dagher gave a low throaty laugh and flicked her hand as if to say 'it's dropped, it's dropped already.'

And then Wangai asked what was _so visible_ she thought was a safer question. "So where did you and Killer meet, then?" Duo couldn't help laughing at that one. Oh hell.

"God. My old man used to tell me never to ever let anyone know, or they'd have their brothers eat me alive." Okay, disclaimer disclaimed, and now for a harmless wincing look... "Uh. Alright. Here goes. One of my friends wanted to make himself a name as a burglar, broke into the local military base and stole him right off his mom's bed."

Horrified silence. Pretty much what he'd expected. That'd be pretty much child kidnapping for a pack.

"... So... how many pieces she chewed him up into?" Benziane asked. (Smoke's ears were up in alert and he was staring at Duo like he was wondering what the fuck; it was a remarkably human look. Maybe because he was old, they'd been bonded a while, started leaking all over each other.) "Because I have to say, stealing a nursing she-wolf's cub, that counts as wolf-assisted suicide, legally speaking. I'm not kidding."

"No pieces, but we had to hide in the sewers for over two weeks before she gave up." He'd been planning to wince, look ashamed, only Wangai and Makisig looked so horrified he just couldn't help it. He let his slums drawl swamp his voice, eyes hooded, grin gallows-cheerful. "And then he was like, 'the fuck do we do with that? Oh well, it's meat.'"

Makisig wrapped an arm around his pup's neck, dragged him against his knees, shuddering. Chiquito whined, confused. "But but but bondwolves are _sentient_! At least semi sentient, I mean -- dude -- okay obviously Killer didn't get eaten but -- you were kidding, right?"

Solo hadn't been. No parents, no nothing. Starving had been a legitimate concern, and what they knew or cared about bondwolves would have fit on a stamp with room to spare.

People thought of eating rats as repugnant, horrifying -- but most days they'd counted themselves lucky to catch one. It was protein.

Sneaky as fuck protein, with teeth.

 _I like rat,_ Killer said, and nosed at his side. Duo broke out into a laugh, ruffled his ears. "Oh god, don't remind me. Yeah, so. He was too cute to eat." And he could track rats with unerring accuracy, once he understood -- probably gleaned from their minds -- what they were looking for, even if he was still too wobbly-pawed to hunt them down. Boy had Duo had to bargain to keep the cub around even long enough to prove that, though.

"... And... after that?"

After that was the plague which they'd been prime candidates for, hiding in the sewers as they had been. Not anyone's business but his own. And after _that_...

"The good Father at my orphanage was surprised when my mutt puppy turned out to be a bondwolf, but by then it was kind of too late." A casual shrug. He tucked his thumbs in his front pockets, rocked on his heels. "And that's the story of how Fuzzbutt MacLunch became Killer Duosbrother. Roll credits."

They were all still staring at him. It was making him tense; he tried to relax before Killer picked up on it, though the memories previously rummaged through hadn't helped, already.

"You didn't know he was a bondwolf either, did you," Dagher said, smirking once again.

Damn. _Stop reading my mind, you goddamn witchcop_ , he thought, mostly playfully. She smirked wider.

"Not a goddamn clue!" he admitted. "And then I was like 'Sister, the puppy is talking in my head', and she was like 'yes, yes, and there's trolls to hunt in the garden, I'm sure your ferocious brother-wolf can help'. Pff. I swear they didn't believe me until he started getting taller at the shoulder than I was."

"... Well, that's a story that'll be hard to top at the next pack reunion." Gustafson still stared at him, head shaking slowly in either disbelief or astonishment. Duo breathed a little, because mentioning the pack reunion -- sounded like he was pretty much saying Duo would be there, chatting with people.

Telling them all about his oh so prettily checkered past. Argh, fuck them, he didn't want to.

He'd have to, they'd be in his head before long -- maybe not too deep but he didn't even know how to choose what to broadcast and what to keep back; he was going to slip up, it was pretty inevitable. He already hated it.

Still. He hadn't expected it to go so well, awkwardness included, and he'd been expecting that Wufei would be around to smooth things out and in the end he'd managed without, so all in one he could probably start feeling cautiously optimistic.

The gray wolf nosed Killer's shoulder a last time, gave his chin a cautious lick -- Killer seemed torn between baffled confusion and hesitant satisfaction -- and turned to Duo. The old male's dark muzzle pointed up, ears angled forward, aiming all his attention, and then Duo could smell cigarettes and mint -- menthol, he thought, and someone said _yes_. The wolf's scent name was a puff of menthol cigarette, and his brother's a much more acrid smoke, and an aftertaste of stale, dirty water that caught him by the throat -- what was left in the ruins after a house fire, soot-stained bricks and a basement full of soupy ashes.

The smell at the Maxwell Church had been different enough -- no firefighters, deficient sprinklers, so it'd burned itself out instead of being drowned (plus a generous portion of carbonized flesh) -- that he managed not to flinch. Immediately after, someone else pushed ozone and the sea and the distinct stink of fish at him, giving him enough of a backlash that he had to close his eyes and breathe through his mouth, not that it ever helped.

So Killer saw the coming wolf first.

He was trotting up to them, huge brindled mass of muscles and dominant, tail curled way up, stare direct, still sharing his cheerfully smothering stormy sea and fish and blood, and he had no intention to stop until he was crowding the two of them and Duo was upset, something had upset Duo and this stranger wolf was charging at them.

Duo lunged; he was too late. His fingers skimmed Killer's tail, closed on nothing, and then the wolves were on each other and Killer wasn't playing, he so wasn't playing, and Wangai was trying to run to them and when Duo grabbed her by the arm (Killer would maul her too, wouldn't hesitate) she punched him in the jaw, a good solid left hook that shook his brain.

Shark was growling, hostile and confused, offended. Killer was silent, not bothering to display, fangs only bared at the tips. People were touching Duo, grabbing his arms to drag him back; it was reflex to twist in their grasp, to slip free. He fought his wolf's impulse to kill, disable, escape.

They had Wangai contained; he lifted a hand, palm up, _still in control stay the fuck back_ (he wasn't lying much), turned to his brother.

_Killer, stop!_

It was like yelling into a hurricane, it always was whenever they were so sharply at odds. He gritted his teeth and tried again.

The wolves made another pass, whirlwind of teeth, trying to catch a hold, testing each other's defenses for holes. Duo felt the vicious spark of satisfaction when Killer found one. He lunged to catch his tail, yanked.

He felt a flash of betrayal but Killer knew it was him so he didn't switch targets to snap his teeth closed on Duo's arms, just took a step back to gain himself some slack, make the enemy think Killer was running and press his advantage -- _now!_

Shark pounced. Killer dropped low, head tilted, striking snake.

**_NO._ **

The presence in their minds was so strong, smothering, they stumbled back, not knowing where their hands and paws were, sat, plop. Killer whined. Duo whined. Maybe? Both. Sorry. Bad puppies sorry.

_Sit. Stay. Bad._

Duo blinked, shook his head. Wow. The fuck. Just... Wow. He forced himself to scan the grounds around them; Killer jerked, flicked his ears. Where the hell... oh.

Oh. Wow. If this wasn't the oldest bitch wolf Duo had ever heard of. She'd probably been basic wolf-brown a long time ago; now she was salt and pepper, muzzle ivory white, one eye blued by cataract. When she walked across the field to them she moved stiff with arthritis.

She wasn't big, but she didn't need to be. The man beside her was well in his seventies, tanned, lined skin, bald on top and the rest steel gray, but beside the wolf he barely caught the eye.

Killer growled, but it came out a complaint instead of a threat, ended in a long, _unfair!_ whine.

The queen wolf felt like... Duo didn't really have words. He felt small in her mind's eye, small and bumbling and silly and like he'd broken a vase or one of Sister's brooches, and she...

She was annoyed, and disappointed, but he was still hers, and if he was sorry enough there would be forgiveness and it would all be good again and maybe she would lick his head. Uh. Pet his head? ... Something.

Damn. Wow. Now _that_ was a mindfuck. Duo climbed back to his feet, cautious; he wasn't about to lose his balance, but it felt weird in his head, a bit cottony. Killer kept sitting, head low and ears flopping down. A couple of feet away big muscled Shark was laying down, head between his paws and whining quietly. When the old bitch wolf came in range he crawled to her, head lifted to lick her chin. She allowed it, waited a few seconds before licking his nose back. Shark's tail started wagging in the dust. Killer was squirming, lost and confused.

She turned to look at Duo's brother. Killer cringed, but didn't look away.

 _My pack_ , she sent, not even really in words but it didn't translate to anything else, all the wolves and all their brothers inside the building and all the wolfless people who worked here, hers, her litters of puppies and her adopted puppies with four legs and with two to teach and feed and protect, and _pack was not prey_.

Killer whined quietly. _Bad puppy._

A weirdly human harrumphing noise. _Bad puppy **stop**._

Killer whine-yipped a protest, which was a sound Duo hadn't heard him make since he'd lost his baby fluff. _I stop!_

He'd been taken from his mother too young, Duo thought, he didn't know about the licking chin thing, he didn't know the signs, the body language, anything. It was so wrong that he'd communicate better with other wolves using words.

 _He can learn again_ , said a voice Duo didn't know. He looked up at the queen's brother, who looked back, patient and vaguely amused. _Nothing but time, and my girl's a good teacher._

That ancient matriarch, being called a _girl_ \-- heh. _I hope_ , he tried to send back, he didn't know if it came out in words at all, or maybe only a sense of uncertainty and worry and inability of trust.

Killer was hunkering down and making his slow, hesitant way to the old queen in turn. Shark stepped back, eyeing him warily, but Killer wouldn't have paid a lick of attention to him unless he actually pounced. He lifted his nose, unsure, sniffed at her. Hot asphalt and rust on steel mingled with the powerful scent of leather, the lather off a tired horse's coat.

She licked his ear. Killer whined softly and licked back at her jaw, letting the smaller wolf groom the top of his head. She put a gnarled, faintly trembling paw on his shoulder and nudged. Completely dumbfounded, Duo's brother allowed himself to flop on his side.

 _Good,_ she said, satisfied, and kept him down with more ear grooming. _Good puppy now. (my puppy now.)_

Killer's hesitant happiness caught in Duo's throat. This -- this was something he'd never known to give to his brother, his soul-partner, never could have anyway. He couldn't wish he'd given Killer back as a puppy even so, he didn't know how to live without him, didn't want to learn, didn't even want to imagine how he could have survived this long, but that this had been the price to becoming Duo's...

"Drico Rosca Folhasbrother," the old man ( _dark, rich field soil after a heavy rain_ ) said mildly, hand held out to shake. Duo shook, a little lost, wolf-happy and self-sad and guilty. "Welcome to the pack, Killersbrother. Now you have the look of a man who needs a beer."

Duo started laughing, a little despite himself. "Wolf witchery! How could you guess."

Rosca might pale beside his queen, but his eyes were knowing, his mind still sharp; he'd been dangerous once upon a time and he might still be -- maybe not physically but there had to be a reason why a queen-wolf had chosen him as her match -- and somehow this only made Duo relax, because she was on Duo and Killer's side and so he was too. "I'd say experience, but you're right, this is a grievous misuse of pack bond.  Now be thankful we're in Europe where there's actual drinkable beer in range."

"Are you impugning the good name of Budweiser, sir?" Duo countered, and let himself be herded out of the Preventers compound and toward their favorite bar, Folha stiffly trotting ahead on the pavement with Killer and Shark and Chiquito trailing her like kites on strings, no leash necessary.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This starts with a homestuck-style chatlog, because I love writing them, and it was fun and may be useful for characterization, but is not absolutely necessary if you find it difficult to read. Just skip to the end of the colored text.
> 
> Also I already have the next chapter, so you should see it pop up pretty soon ohoho. >:3

STRAWBERRYSHORTCAKE: Du@!!! :DDD y@u're finally @nline where have y@u been?!   
JOLLYREAPER: le gasp, ambushed!! haha I totes forgot id even set up this messenger thing.   
JOLLYREAPER: whyre ur Os @s?   
STRAWBERRYSHORTCAKE: ja du@ let us w@nder why the pers@n y@u haven't seen f@r ten days and HAVENT WRITTEN T@ has typ@ issues this is t@tally relevant. :X   
STRAWBERRYSHORTCAKE: my keyb@ard br@ke stupid.   
JOLLYREAPER: cant u use zeros or smth, I keep reading them as *at*!!   
STRAWBERRYSHORTCAKE: :X   
STRAWBERRYSHORTCAKE: HI HILDE IT IS S@ NICE T@ HEAR FR@M Y@U H@W ARE Y@U W@W THAT IS ACTUALLY INTERESTING BY THE WAY Y@UR KILLERBABY HAS ADAPTED SUPER WELL AND IS ALREADY HITTING IT @FF WITH T@NS @F CLASSY BITCHES Y@U WILL BE A PUP AUNTY S@@N.   
JOLLYREAPER: I see how it is, u care more abt the fur pile than abt me. :|   
JOLLYREAPER: cold, schbeiker, cold.   
JOLLYREAPER: so how r u? I ask bcs I totally care & not bcs youll tell me anyway. yup. :D   
STRAWBERRYSHORTCAKE: >:/   
JOLLYREAPER: jk. XD whassup, babe?   
JOLLYREAPER: also run this file plz: hildiereadability!!.exe   
STRAWBERRYSHORTCAKE: :o oooooooohh duo you are magical.   
STRAWBERRYSHORTCAKE: well actually there have been a lot of...   
STRAWBERRYSHORTCAKE: things that were exactly the same as when you were still here. :X   
STRAWBERRYSHORTCAKE: except now I have no one to bitch about friedriks with anymore.   
JOLLYREAPER: we could have a bitching session now, those r fun. :D   
STRAWBERRYSHORTCAKE: or you could stop delaying and tell me everything about how things are going for you and the carpetmonster!   
STRAWBERRYSHORTCAKE: cough it up. >:(   
JOLLYREAPER: aw cmon whyd u think anything is weird enough that im trying not to tell u.   
STRAWBERRYSHORTCAKE: becaaaaause you pretty much just admitted it to my face right there. :X   
JOLLYREAPER: curses, foiled!!   
STRAWBERRYSHORTCAKE: :X :X :X   
JOLLYREAPER: yes yes ok.   
JOLLYREAPER: killers doing ok I think, or as good as can be reasonably expected haha ... ha :/ almost tore off a few throats but whoa you would not believe what a difference it makes that theres a queen bitch here. just, whoa.   
JOLLYREAPER: she was all like *bad puppy* & he was all like *whine whine sorry plz lick my head* & then she licked his head & they sniffed butts & he was like *I got ur slipper*-dance happy.   
STRAWBERRYSHORTCAKE: awwwwww!! X3333 <3<3<3   
JOLLYREAPER: yeah. :) so that was good.   
STRAWBERRYSHORTCAKE: :33   
STRAWBERRYSHORTCAKE: so what's not good?   
JOLLYREAPER: ehh. idk. theyre all *oz* around here srsly fuck those guys. 9_9   
STRAWBERRYSHORTCAKE: HEY. >:O   
JOLLYREAPER: hahaha just kidding. actually half of them are cops or firefighters or customs guys or search&rescue, didnt expect that.    
JOLLYREAPER: but the rest are oz but theyre oddly cool about that, I mean cool people in oz, soon theyll tell us gravity is like optional or smth.   
STRAWBERRYSHORTCAKE: yeah like yesterday when L2 15846 stopped spinning for a while man was that fun wish I'd been there.   
JOLLYREAPER: ...... what.   
STRAWBERRYSHORTCAKE: they didn't mention it on the news down on the ole dirtball? Well no one got really hurt so maybe that's why?   
STRAWBERRYSHORTCAKE: just a lot of geezers floating around waiting to be pulled back down before they turned gravity back on.   
JOLLYREAPER: man, killer woulda loved it. :(   
JOLLYREAPER: they have a gravity room here but we dont get to take joyrides in it. sob sob gotta wait for that part of the training. & its kinda tiny anyway so it wouldnt be super great fun.   
JOLLYREAPER: haha now hes looking at me all *flying? when? when when when want floating!!!!* poor disappointed pup.   
STRAWBERRYSHORTCAKE: aww my baby give him ear skritchies for me.   
STRAWBERRYSHORTCAKE: I miss you baby   
JOLLYREAPER: I miss u too tastiest strawberry shortcake, says he himself. no actually he says where where want whine. :(   
JOLLYREAPER: send him ur socks or smth   
JOLLYREAPER: not ur panties plz.   
STRAWBERRYSHORTCAKE: you're so GROSS! D:<   
JOLLYREAPER: ;D u know u love me hur hur yeeeeeah.   
STRAWBERRYSHORTCAKE: I know I love your brother. I'm just using you to get through to him. >:X   
JOLLYREAPER: redneck party!    
JOLLYREAPER: but srsly no panties, gossip goes kinda fast around here & wufftser might hear abt it & do his *I am not going to *say* anything, I am just going to **stare it in letters of fire into the back of ur skull** * thing.   
JOLLYREAPER: the letters will be in ye olde nonsimplified chinese characters w/ like a bazillion squiggly bits that no one actually uses anymore & no u cant use a dictionary, do it frm memory!! I expect a twenty page paper on ur deep & srs reflections over it.   
STRAWBERRYSHORTCAKE: pff. XD   
JOLLYREAPER: meanwhile my most esteemed brother & I shall be escorting ur poor beleaguered brother to the nearest car wash for funtime shower action.   
STRAWBERRYSHORTCAKE: whaaaaaat??? XDD XD XD   
JOLLYREAPER: wuffster sez his glen likes to run thru car washes. I cracked up like my spine wasnt even a thing.   
STRAWBERRYSHORTCAKE: omg XDDDDDDDDDDDD   
JOLLYREAPER: wu was all like *no I r v. srs man* but he looked all *I am so not laughing I swear!!!!*   
JOLLYREAPER: I cracked up again. :X   
STRAWBERRYSHORTCAKE: ahahahahahaha XDDD I would have too omg.   
JOLLYREAPER: anyway looks like the peace has done him good. hes all ass unstick'd & stuff. at some points it was even like we were *buddies* or smth   
STRAWBERRYSHORTCAKE: :o nooooo way.   
JOLLYREAPER: yes way! went drinking with the guys a couple times & he came by *both* times! kinda late & didnt stay too long but glen was all hi how r u gentlemen & he kinda trailed after & stuff.   
JOLLYREAPER: so weird, hildie. so weird. sooooooo weird.   
STRAWBERRYSHORTCAKE: but kinda nice huh :D   
JOLLYREAPER: ... :X   
STRAWBERRYSHORTCAKE: :DDD   
JOLLYREAPER: maybe a lil bit. >__>   
STRAWBERRYSHORTCAKE: what about the hot one? :D   
JOLLYREAPER: WAAUUUGH STOP RIGHT THERE.   
STRAWBERRYSHORTCAKE: cmon you knew which one I meant straight away this is proof. how can you not?? :3   
JOLLYREAPER: v easy considering how can u think his ass is hot **HE DOESNT HAVE ONE.**   
JOLLYREAPER: its like. a void where an ass should be. negative ass space. concave buttflex area. hes a straight line *from shoulders to knees.*   
STRAWBERRYSHORTCAKE: you lying liar who lies. It's a very tight butt is all. mmm. best of all pilots bar none.   
JOLLYREAPER: fuck u mines best.   
STRAWBERRYSHORTCAKE: yours is definitely more comfortable to the touch. :D   
JOLLYREAPER: u saying im fat???? D:< bitch I will cut u.   
STRAWBERRYSHORTCAKE: :D   
JOLLYREAPER: ... off from seeing the carpetshark.   
STRAWBERRYSHORTCAKE: D: not fat at all just more uhh springy???   
JOLLYREAPER: >__>   
STRAWBERRYSHORTCAKE: :D;    
JOLLYREAPER: I dont get u. if u like them tight & small heeros is way more   
STRAWBERRYSHORTCAKE: yes?   
JOLLYREAPER: oh look at that, curfew time.   
STRAWBERRYSHORTCAKE: slink off offline now and I will come down and shank you. :3   
STRAWBERRYSHORTCAKE: it's nine pm where you are I know I'm a girl but I can do math I swear.   
STRAWBERRYSHORTCAKE: way more.......?   
JOLLYREAPER: ... :X   
JOLLYREAPER: ffff I dont even know. urgh. last I saw him he was barely sixteen, way to make me feel like a pedo.   
STRAWBERRYSHORTCAKE: you're eighteen now you're SO old wow!   
JOLLYREAPER: nineteen! ... almost!! ... ... maybe!!!!   
STRAWBERRYSHORTCAKE: :/   
JOLLYREAPER: why are we talking about who of my old GUY buddies has the best ass   
JOLLYREAPER: why does that list not include me. okay yes id win by default *but.*   
STRAWBERRYSHORTCAKE: biiiiii curiosityyyyyyyyy   
JOLLYREAPER: noooonononoonoo.   
STRAWBERRYSHORTCAKE: hell curious nothing. I bet you've made out with more guys than I have by now.   
JOLLYREAPER: why do I tell u anything.   
STRAWBERRYSHORTCAKE: because if you didn't you'd have no one to brag to.   
JOLLYREAPER: oh yeah.   
JOLLYREAPER: if its any help you kiss a lot better than most of those bozos. u__u   
JOLLYREAPER: I MEAN GUYS I HAVE ACTUALLY KISSED NONE OF WHICH BELONG TO BOTH THAT SUBGROUP *&* THE PILOTS ONE.   
STRAWBERRYSHORTCAKE: ahahaha X'D <3   
JOLLYREAPER: im srs, its one venn diagram where one circle is like at one end of the room & the other circle is on mars.   
STRAWBERRYSHORTCAKE: but you'd have so much in common!   
JOLLYREAPER: hilde if u try to matchmake me w/ any of them I will end u.   
JOLLYREAPER: especially tro-man, where the hell would I put my hands when necking srsly, theyd slip off right to his thighs. :X   
STRAWBERRYSHORTCAKE: okay okay fine. :( apart from your horrible lack of action how are things?   
JOLLYREAPER: I told u already ;p   
STRAWBERRYSHORTCAKE: no you told me three anecdotes and distracted me with funny wufeis. I see right through you.   
JOLLYREAPER: sheesh, nothing can escape u.   
JOLLYREAPER: lets say there havent been more fights but.   
JOLLYREAPER: im in the dorm now & all the wolves are piled in the middle or going round between bunks & stuff.   
JOLLYREAPER: killer is lying in wait by the end of our bunk & he doesnt even growl at the wolves who come close but considering hes bit three of them by now they wised up to the situation :/   
JOLLYREAPER: not v. srs bites or anything but   
JOLLYREAPER: he just goes straight to biting, no fuck u go away before that or even ear semaphore much, & he wont talk to most of them in the pack sense, so the other wolves rly dont like him. they dont try to chase him off cause theyre civilized wolves & their brothers asked them not to but they kinda want to.   
JOLLYREAPER: & the more they want to, the more their brothers want to.   
STRAWBERRYSHORTCAKE: aw shit. :(((((((((   
JOLLYREAPER: basically. :((

\--

"Waaaaangai," Duo crooned when he was only a dozen steps behind her. The woman's ground-eating strides didn't falter, but she did throw a half-serious glare his way over her shoulder. It was her seventh lap, and his eighth. (When they'd started basic training two weeks ago he usually passed her in the middle of her fifth; his endurance was going back to where it'd been during the war slower than hers.)

"Damn you, Maxwell," was all she bothered to waste air for.

He matched her stride for a while. She was taller than he was -- a lot of people were -- and leggier, too, and while he hadn't grown as much in height as he'd hoped since he was fifteen and had a body made of coat hangers and steel cable for muscles, he had more mass to move now he wasn't half-starved. Maybe it wasn't surprising.

 _Blaming Hildie and her desserts_ , he thought to himself, and twitched a little when Wangai looked his way with an eyebrow up, like she'd heard.

"You -- think you're fat -- Maxwell?"

Argh. Stupid wavery pack sense. Most of the time he got nothing, maybe some vague sense of presence, sometimes a burst of high emotion, and then it went clear for a second and lost itself again. He tried on a winsome grin. "Can't even see my -- full collection of ribs -- damn right I am! Won't fit in my dresses."

She gave him a short bark of a laugh, and kept running. Duo paced her until the next turn, and allowed himself to speed up until she stopped trying to match him and fell back to her normal speed with a twinge of competitive frustration, quickly smothered.

The thing was, Duo tweaked her because he was competitive, too, and a bit of healthy competition was fun and usually a bonding thing for him, and he liked Wangai quite a bit as a person.

The thing was, them getting competitive was just about the last fucking thing Killer and Shark were waiting for at this point. He and Wangai both knew that no matter how they struggled to keep the peace, there was a reckoning coming up where one of their brothers would maul the other one -- likely they'd maul each other -- and it strained everything.

_(Ozone and burnt wires and a sparking engine.)_

_S'all good here. Having fun, buddy?_

The human track was boring as hell, flat and in straight lines, only good for endurance training which he would have done on a machine just as well, only that would have left his brother bored instead. He craned his neck to look at the wolf track that ringed it -- grass and sand pits, walls and wooden fences to jump and tunnels to crawl through. It'd make a neat obstacle course for the humans as well. Sometimes it was, but so far only for supervised exercises, with the drill instructor and his sister following closely.

Killer burst over an obstacle and sailed several feet past the sand pit supposed to catch him upon landing, hit the ground and bounced up like a ball of springs, and dodged the next obstacle to come jog at Duo's side on the human track, muzzle up to sniff toward his face.

_Fun! Climb with me. Climb, jump, **mud**!_

"Yeah, I... noticed that."

Duo couldn't even be annoyed. Killer was just so happy -- even with the pack uneasy and distant around him, he once again had things to do, different things each day to keep him engaged, an obstacle course to get him moving that wasn't the forbidden, nose-killing pile of rusty, unsteady shit in the corner that Hilde wasn't throwing away yet. He was happier here than he'd been.

Though Duo could have done without the insecure, tense undertow that could at any time drag him down into a veritable sea of defensive anger and thwarted territoriality.

He caught up to a small clump of other trainees, wolfed or not, and young agents -- Makisig, panting already, a few other men and women, only on their fifth laps. They politely ignored each other, and ignored best as they could the way the wolves on the obstacles had gone tense and started growling when Killer cut between them and their bondmates.

 _Look, that obstacle over there, so much fun, soo much fun,_ Duo chanted in his mind, hoping to be distracting enough. It was a wooden beam suspended by chains, so any impact made it swing; you had to have the balance of a cat to make it through. Killer had the balance of a Gundam pilot's wolf, which was almost as good.

 _Poodle growling from the nice-smelling shop,_ Killer returned, ears flat on his head. Duo winced. Killer rarely bothered to dwell on memories, but oh lord, that poodle. In its fuzzy little head Killer had been a murderer come to feast on its owners and all the contents of the shop, and it was a hero of legend, keeping the dragon at bay. Disdain was laced through the memory, and annoyance, but underneath was mostly hurt. Duo had told him so often to make nice with the poodle, and he'd tried -- there were so few animals on L2 that weren't vermin, but dogs were too stupid for pack sense to make much sense to them.

 _Wolves wouldn't be as easy to fight as a poodle,_ Duo cautioned, because he knew where it was going. Killer only snorted, unconvinced.

_Running!! Running hi, big, runwithus packrunning yay!_

Duo cracked a smile as the cub -- too young for the obstacles yet -- burst out of the group of humans and came paddling hard after them, tongue hanging out. "Hey, Chiquito."

_Too fast, mean, stop!_

Killer slowed down a little to touch noses, though they'd greeted each other at the start of the run already, sent a burst of awkward images -- wolves communicated better with scents, but Killer almost only communicated with Duo. Chiquito with sausage dog legs, with poodle fur. _Little legs, poodle-wolf?_ It made Duo laugh.

It made another wolf weave in behind them and clack her fangs at Killer's heels, ears flat and thinking thoughts of _bad-strange-male, mauling-cubs_.

"Killer, _race_ ," Duo ordered with a hard snap, and narrowed his eyes at the women behind him. "Agent Lusitaner."

"It's not my fault!" she snapped back in a way that made him think maybe it was a little. Killer's body language around Chiquito should give no pack-raised wolf any doubt as to his intentions, and the cub was old enough by now that not even his mother should be aggressive to other adults on principle.

Fuck that noise. He sped up, and Killer with him, progressively enough that it didn't look like they were running away from the people behind them.

_Angry. Bite them. Ozone and burnt wires bite them too._

_We can't,_ Duo thought, instead of _no, it's bad,_ which he knew he should have thought instead but... fuck.

The drill instructor was staring at them. Duo nudged Killer to go back to the obstacle course. Duo himself was running faster, to burn out his anger, but Killer wasn't pushing himself at all at this pace, and he probably should, no matter how much he didn't want to leave Duo's side right now.

Killer crossed the balancing beam in four big lopes, and didn't fall only because he'd gone too fast to leave either gravity or the heavy wood's momentum any time to catch up. Then he was climbing up a slope-y little thing, and then he was coming to a screeching stop.

 _Surprise_ was so strong Duo almost threw himself flat on the ground, only because surprises that violent were almost never good, and then --

_Racing -- oh my god he's charging that -- oh no new people there -- too far to stop that -- Agent Strauss! Agent, **Killer**!_

Duo shook his head (like that could help) and ran after his wolf.

There were two people by the side of the track, in Preventers jackets -- full agents, not junior agents or trainees -- and two wolves. A grayish brown one with a docked tail, and a somewhat runty black one, not quite hip-deep on his brother, and Duo was never going to get there on time.

He couldn't hear himself _think_ over that fucking noise, how the fuck was he supposed to talk to Killer?!

 _Surprise_ , from a few different people, _sorry, quieter_ , and then the black wolf limped forward to meet Killer and Killer dodged by a hair -- the shock would have been violent -- and circled back to jump on him from the side.

Oddly gently, at that. The other wolf let himself fall almost more than Killer felled him.

The scent of woods and tree pulp exploded in his nose, and a dry, soft smell that after a second he remembered was feathers. A bird. A bird up in a tree.

Coyote.

"Trowa, you son of a bitch, you've cut your hair!"

Duo grinned, laughed, more than half from relief. Killer was snuffling Coyote all over, from lazily offered throat to tail, busy nose fluffing up reddish-black fur. Coyote's tail beat in the dust as he waited patiently for Killer to allow him back up. Duo walked up to Trowa (still had his bangs! only they stopped in a straight line over his eye) and grabbed his offered hand to haul him into a hard, mildly revengeful hug.

"How am I meant to recognize you without the bang, man?! How--"

Bam, Forest-Fresh Pine Ambiance to the snout. _Like that?_ Trowa suggested with an innocence Duo distrusted by pure kneejerk reflex, before he even processed the words.

After that he grabbed him around the neck and half-strangled him, playfully so.

_Asshole oh my god I missed you. (we weren't even close this is weird)_

_(yeah I know.)_

"Agent _Barton_ ," said the agent beside them, tone terse, a hand caught in her brother's ruff. Trowa snaked free of Duo's hold effortlessly, leaving him holding air. After a startled second he lowered his arm to his side and smiled.

"Right. Agent Strauss, Humvee, Trainee Maxwell and Killer."

Coyote got back up on his feet, limped back to Trowa to touch nose with Strauss' Humvee. The wolf was normal-sized, but his tail had been cut short -- in all likelihood an accident, as bobbing bondwolves' tails was a fashion that had never, ever caught on -- and he was missing half an ear. Duo thought he saw scars under that fur, too.

He held out his hand for Humvee to sniff, palm up, trying not to pay too much attention to the wary way Killer followed to investigate.

 _Shh pack_ , said Coyote, tangling scents of _hot asphalt rust on steel_ and _ozone and burnt wires_ with his own _bird in a tree_ and Trowa's _pine in brisk mountain air_ , with a mess of _rats and sneezy plaster dust_ and another echo of _asphalt and heat, scorched rubber_.

"Agent Strauss is my partner," Trowa told him, _at the moment/we get on okayish/waryarmedtruce_.

"--Oh, okay. Hello, ma'am."

"Duo was a Gundam pilot," he said to her, and Duo wondered if she got to have her own aside too.

 _She already knows everything she wants to think about us_ , Trowa replied with faint amusement.

She was the one with the rat smell, muted a bit like it was -- huh, like they were hidden behind a drywall. Okay. Rats behind a drywall. Why not. Gus' scent name was ~ _delicious (!!!) carrion_ , after all. Which meant Humvee was the one with the scorched tires on asphalt. Probably where he'd gotten the spoken name.

Humvee and Killer were sniffing each other's butt cautiously. So far it was going well. Coyote sat beside them and watched, tail beating once in a while, tongue lolling.

Duo could smell everything. Awesome.

 _Good smells thank you_ , Coyote said, and -- nudged him a bit, inside his head, somehow.

"Why's he limping, by the way?"

"Twisted his leg on our last mission. To avoid a pepper bomb," Trowa informed him with a kind of calm that Duo recognized as 'I am meticulously planning the most efficient way to shoot someone full of holes over this'. "His sinuses are still burned; he'll be trying to smell through you and Killer if you give him half a chance."

Duo dropped his hand on the smaller wolf's head and gave off-black fur a scratch. _I don't mind/don't know how/okay._ "Okay."

A burst of affection and trust came back from Trowa's wolf, wrapped in the easy certainty that it could have been no other way. Duo and Killer were good pack, had found Trowa for him when Trowa was lost. Of course they would find scents for Coyote now.

Duo laughed, trying not to choke. _We found him and then promptly knocked him off his trapeze, yeah._

 _Not my fault!_ Killer protested, coming back to Coyote and Duo to nip on Duo's hand and Coyote's ears. _Silly human-thinks-he's-a-bird, forgets he's yours/ours/mine._

(Duo and Hilde had been sitting in the bleachers. Killer sat in the alley -- there was no space for him between the rows. Trowa had seen a bondwolf and almost flashbacked himself off his swinging perch -- and then Killer had said hi.)

"Is Catherine still pissed off at us about that, by the way?" Duo asked, trying not to laugh.

"She'll tell you she's not, but she'll be lying." Trowa shrugged. "Don't see why. There was a net."

"Oh yeah! Me neither. It's not like you almost _missed_ the net, and she had to throw herself at you in mid-air to correct. Nah."

"Could you guys stop having coded conversations around me, if you don't mind," Agent Strauss said. Her features were drawn and even when she wasn't scowling she looked tired and cranky, possibly even more cranky than tired. Anyway she was scowling now.

"Just reminiscing about that time I got my amnesia cured," Trowa replied, letting her annoyance slide right off. Strauss' frown deepened like she thought they were bullshitting her. Meep.

Okay, even if it wasn't perfect now Duo didn't want to aggravate their working relationship. He smiled at her, apologetic. "No, seriously, he was hiding at that circus wondering what the heck, and it just happened I was on a date with my girlfriend, and then Killer tried to talk with him. Bam, flashback." A thoughtful pause, mouth pursed to keep from laughing. "He was kind of on a moving trapeze at the time."

Her mouth only pinched itself flatter. Um. What next, bring out photographic proof? Duo wasn't in the habit of keeping any.

"We're going to be late" was all she said, though. Trowa nodded.

"I'll see you later, Duo." He turned away, paused briefly to let Coyote lick Killer's muzzle, and then followed Strauss and Humvee toward the administrative building. "By the way, you've got three laps to catch up on."

Laughing, Duo went back to the track.

\--

He'd hoped they could all get away for lunch, but Coyote was _having a checkup cold hands poking me in bad places augh needles can't smell the stinky drugs??? nooo,_ so they went to the mess and ate with Agent Dagher and her bitch wolf. Sekhmet wasn't either challenging or afraid around Killer, just not extremely interested, and it was goddamn restful.

The strangest thing about training that day was the constant nudging into his head of floating thoughts -- Trowa in meetings he _don't have the clearance to see yet sorry Duo_ , Une's desk from waist height, brief moments of amusement. Sometimes he was aware of a twinge down his shoulder, or maybe Killer's shoulder, a pain that belonged to Coyote.

He was aware of everything Killer smelled.

Which wasn't at all distracting for anyone! The brouhaha of opinions Coyote had about it thankfully stayed quiet, at the edge of his awareness.

"Okay, uh, Killer. _Sit_."

Duo pinched his lips and refrained from commenting, or thinking anything at all. The lesson right now was supposed to get the wolves used to taking spoken commands from other Preventers, in case their brother was unavailable (read: too badly injured to control the wolf themselves) or there was too much distracting thought-noise. It would have helped a bit more if Maguire -- one of the wolf-less trainees -- sounded a little more convinced.

At least the dude wasn't afraid of Killer, which was a step up from the rest of the class.

Sighing, Maguire went to push Killer's rump down manually; Killer sidestepped and went to place himself on Duo's other side, vaguely offended by the manhandling attempt.

_Come on, he gives you treats, listen to him._

Killer grumbled deep in his throat and started grooming one of his paws pointedly. _Not stronger. Not mine. No._

"Sorry, man."

"S'okay. At least he likes me a bit now. Didn't even growl or anything."

At this rate he might even let the dude touch his head by next month. Duo laughed a little through his groan, and shoved Killer's shoulder. "Why are you such a diva, buddy."

Killer's reply was thoroughly unprintable, by which Duo meant it was a big jumble of smells that implied Duo stank like a veterinarian office.

 _That's mean and I am very hurt,_ Duo thought, and tried not to ruin it by laughing.

The drill instructor wound his way through the class, such as it was -- bit of a mess, because Chiquito was here, and so was his mom, Bianchi, plus her other two cubs who hadn't chosen a brother or sister yet. Wangai and a couple of wolf-less trainees were trying and so far failing to teach them to sit on command.

_At least you're not being outdone by the cubs, I guess._

_Vet office and **needles**._

"Maxwell, still no progress?"

Segura didn't look judgmental at least, just reserved. Duo gave him an apologetic wince. "No, sir, sorry. I told him he was supposed to obey but he won't hear it. Says Maguire's not his and not stronger. He likes him okay, just won't obey for a treat."

He was prepared to hear something about how he wasn't trying hard enough, but the drill instructor startled him. "Yeah, happens sometimes with the dominant ones. Okay, let's think smaller steps, can you manage to teach him the words yourself? If you don't think about the action, so he doesn't respond to what he sees in your head instead of the sounds. That'll be a start."

Duo blinked. "Oh, I could try."

"Does he know any verbal commands at all?"

"Some, but they were all hammered in when he was still pretty young and I don't even know what did it. I mean, the way I hurried to throw myself on the ground when one of the trainers yelled 'incoming'--"

Killer startled, lifted his muzzle, ears up, confused by the calm, easy tone it had come out with.

"No, buddy, just talking. I mean, he knew if he didn't follow we'd be pelted with rubber balls next, and those _hurt_ , and I was definitely thinking about that."

Segura snorted, gave a wry nod. "Too bad those aren't Preventer-approved training methods. Reward-based only."

Better than taking a bullet to the head, Duo thought, but he wasn't out of patience enough to say it.

"What other commands does he know?"

"Urr, let me think. I'm not sure. He's learned a lot of words by association from hearing them a lot, but..." Duo scratched his chin, thoughtful. "Like how b-o-m-b means 'run away.' Papers -- if you said it like a cop to loitering kids he's kinda pissed off at -- used to mean 'create a distraction so I can get out of here.' And I'm afraid he thinks 'drop your w-e-a-p-o-n' actually means 'disarm the dude who yelled it'. That's, uh. Yeah."

Segura started massaging one of his temples. "It's going to be fun retraining him, I see."

"Sorry." Shit, why was Duo even apologizing. Blargh.

The drill instructor sighed. "No, it was what you two needed at the time, I get that. Just... don't get knocked out until we're done."

"Uh, sure thing. That is something I will give my utmost effort to accomplish."

Segura snorted. "It'll take private lessons, I think. Okay, rest of the hour, keep working with him on sit and stay -- yes, Agent Barton?"

Duo turned. Killer was already making his way to the door, ignoring the cubs tumbling between his paws entirely.

_(bird in a tree) not here where want?_

_He's sleeping_ , Trowa replied _. Tired, paw hurts, shh._ "Can I talk to you a minute, Segura?"

The man excused himself; Duo got Killer to come back to him, and then started trying to figure out how to say 'sit' without visualizing it. Maybe he should say it every single time he needed Killer to sit from here on, so he'd associate the two... yeah, maybe that'd work as well, he was going to start from there and once Killer understood that this was a (super boring) game they'd started playing it'd be easier to move on to the next step... And maybe he could get Wufei and Trowa to help with the 'yes even when it's not me who's saying it' aspect, he was sure Killer wouldn't dismiss _them_ out of hand.

"Maxwell."

Segura looked at him, nodded toward Trowa. _Go with him/follow. (Not very pleased no choice Une said.)_ "You get to skip out for today. Try to work on what we talked about anyway, alright?"

An eyebrow up, Duo called Killer to him and made his way to the door, trying to ignore the brouhaha of curiosity/confusion. One of Bianchi's cubs came to bite at his shoes and Killer nosed him away, grumbling _bad puppy no._ Wangai arched both eyebrows at him, and he had to shrug and throw _I don't know either!_ through the bond, and hope that it worked. Possibly his expression was meaningful enough.

"What's up, Trowa?"

"Une will tell you," he replied placidly, and went about leading them back toward the administrative building.

"Aw, come on, you gotta know what it's about. Share some intel with your old friend."

Trowa's lip curled up in a faint, brief smirk that meant "good try" and he pretended Duo hadn't said anything. Grumbling, Duo decided not to stop Killer from poking his cold wet nose in the inch of bared skin over Trowa's waistband. Not the most awesome revenge, but that'd do.

Especially since his wolf gained himself ear pettings from that stunt. Fff. Traitors everywhere.

He pretended he wasn't bouncing a bit on his toes as he followed them to the elevator.

\--

Une was at her desk, like last time, only apparently a folder had exploded on it; there were sheets of paper spread out everywhere. She waved them in without looking up, and to two chairs. Killer went to lap at a water dish in the corner that Duo was concerned was supposed to be for watering plants, at first, until Killer told him he could track another dozen wolves' scents on it. Okay, Une had a watering hole in her office today. Why not.

"Trainee Maxwell."

"Yup?"

Whoops. He just couldn't naturally play the polite-to-superiors game with her. Just... Something stuck in the gears. Luckily she didn't seem to want to take offense; a quick, narrow-eyed look was all the reprimand he got.

"Any progress with training?"

One thing he liked about her was that she understood terse and to the point. He shrugged and went with it. "Some, but we're well under the median curve."

"Hm. Problem areas?"

"Mostly pack integration, but we knew that coming in. There have been no more fights, at least." It was embarrassing to have to say that around Trowa. Duo stared at Une and allowed Trowa to make himself fade in the background. "And he won't take commands from other people."

"Logical. If he doesn't trust them as his pack yet, he won't recognize their authority or care about their feelings."

"Huh," Duo went, an eyebrow up. "Yeah, it'd be easier to get him to obey someone else because he likes them and wants to be nice than because he honestly thinks they top. Stubborn bastard."

Une allowed herself a faint smile, and glanced at Killer, who was done drinking and was cautiously making his way to the side of her desk, head low, wary but curious.

"Killer, sit," she said calmly, no tension at all in her voice save the calm certainty that he would.

And Killer sat. The _traitor_.

Beside him Trowa was impassive but Duo could feel him fighting not to snicker through the pack sense. He kicked him under the desk.

_But bigger-nastier? Dry-blood-on-shadowed-marble's territory? Also she's loudsharpstrong?? And whiskey-and-deer-on-snow is hers and he's kindof ours too ...???_

Duo relented, blinking. "Wow. I didn't know you were..." He didn't even know what it was called. Quatre could talk with bondwolves just as easily as their own brothers could, but Quatre was really special and Une didn't ping him quite that way. And a lot of ordinary people could communicate a little bit when they knew the particular wolf and its brother well, but...

"They hear me better than I hear them," she said in a quieter, sadder voice, and gave Killer her hand to sniff when he got back up to get back to investigating her desk. And then she looked back up at him and squared her shoulders. "Let's get to the point."

Duo nodded, refrained somehow from pointing out he was waiting for her.

"Your current problem with standard commands notwithstanding, do you have any issues at all controlling Killer in public, noisy environments?"

... Oh. Was this going where he thought it was going? He gave the question a moment of thought, met her seriousness with his own. "On our own time I don't keep him at heel, he knows not to scare the wolf-less and to leave pets alone and he doesn't make messes. He's fine so long as he doesn't get cornered. When we're on the job, we're on the job."

"Tracking?"

"He's good at it," Duo said with a bit of deserved pride. "Good nose, stubborn, won't get distracted." And then he -- huh. _Huh_. Yes. Coyote had been pepper-bombed. "And I'm good at watching out for him when he's busy."

Une gave an almost noiseless chuckle in acknowledgement. "And Agent Barton tells me Killer is at ease in low and zero gravity."

Killer's ears sprang up and he came to immediate, intense attention. _Floating??! Want, want!_ he threw, nosing insistently at Une's desk like a gravity room might be found underneath the papers. Duo laughed at his reaction.

"Fuck, he likes it almost better than Earth-normal."

Une patted Killer's muzzle and pushed him off her desk. "Good. As you may have deduced -- there's something up there we need to track down, and dogs don't work in zero-G, and neither do most bondwolves." She fixed him with a sudden hard stare, just as he was starting to smile. "Your mission, Trainee Maxwell, will be to _track_ , and then to step back and let the agents on the field handle the rest. You are not to attempt to join in on an operation when you know nothing of standard procedure, and you are most certainly not to go solo because you believe you know better. Am I making myself clear?"

"... Yes ma'am."

It was still great. Going out, doing important things.

 _Hunting_ , Killer was saying in his head, reverent and intense. **_Hunting_** _._

 _Yes,_ Duo echoed back, and realized how straight-backed he sat.

"Good. You will be assigned to a pair of Agents for protection. Do not lose them."

He almost protested that one; protection? Who needed protection now? But... argh. Duo guessed that officially he was nothing but a trainee, and who was going to care if he used to pilot a Gundam if they wanted to bitch Une out about him getting himself shot against regulations. He supposed she needed to cover her own ass too.

Still, argh.

Better than staying here and dragging themselves along morosely. Duo was sure that after a refreshing little break Killer and the local pack would be once more ready to attempt to build a friendship.

"How long?"

"Three, four days. An asteroid mining hub off of L3."

Seven-hour flight out, seven to come back, about two days on the ground. Hm. "What if we don't find the target in time?"

A line formed between her brows; her voice went a little terser. "We're currently tightening the security, but we cannot keep up this level of scrutiny on comings and goings through the hub for longer than a week. Past that point in time we'll have to assume they either have a good enough hiding spot that we won't find them, or that they fled already."

"Makes sense."

She handed him a thin folder. "Here are the mission specs. Go pack up. You leave in two hours."

" _Two_ hours? What am I going to _do_ with all that free time," he shot back, grinning from ear to ear and rather too toothily, and he stood.

 _Hunting, hunting_ , Killer was whispering endlessly, oddly still, honey-gold eyes gleaming. _Hunting now?_

_Travel first. Need to go where the prey is._

They walked out, Trowa on their heels, silent, almost not there. Duo grinned over his shoulder, to bring him closer. "Give us the rundown?"

"Sure thing." _What are packmates for?_


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Updates will now slow down to a more usual schedule. u.u;;; (okay let's hope not quite that bad but. XD)

L3-A0142 was an older, smaller wheel-type colony; instead of being a huge, empty disk or tube with enough sky and moving air for actual weather, the inside was set up in several "efficient" concentric floors.

The closer you got to the axis of the colony, the less gravity. Residential areas were on the rim, three middle floors after that were for factories and the like -- easier to do some types of work in reduced gravity -- and the last two around the center were supposed to have been recreational areas. Get some tourists in, maybe, get the workers to spit out their hard-earned credits before they even left the colony. In practice they were a tangle of abandoned night-clubs and struggling shops, dozens of drunkards and druggies and poor work-damaged, zero-grav-crippled assholes who should have been kicked off the colony when they stopped being able to pay rent, and instead went to ground there.

It was a real warren, and besides the colony still made an okay profit tapping them for the jobs nobody else wanted, so sometimes there would be a bust but most of the time the local cops didn't bother to try that hard.

Duo was vaguely aware of that; what he was more aware of, right now, was the shifting weight of the world in his bones, hopping off the Preventers shuttle where they'd been so, so light (but he had to stay in/under his seat like a good puppy.) This place was heavier, and there were people everywhere with home-scents of engine grease and space rock dust and exposed metal, the space-only glue they stuck in the joints. Plants in pots in carefully reconstituted soil, too high to pee on. Ozone and rat-gnawed wires.

People making mouth noises at them. Oh, right. Yeah. "Duo Maxwell and Killer. Nice to meetcha. When can we get to work?"

He'd almost made the mouth noises for hunt. They wanted to hunt. The other Preventers (wannabe pack, should-be pack what are we doing wrong) would not have liked it, though.

One man, one woman, and the man was afraid of Killer, though he didn't move back or outwardly react -- like they had no nose to smell it! Duo snorted. "He doesn't bite." _Liar_. "Without reason."

The dude Preventer twitched, looked at him startled and then looked down at Killer, like he was figuring out why they were that sure of things. "Sorry, I just -- I have a thing about dogs."

 _Not a dog!_ Killer grumbled back. "He says he's not a dog," Duo dutifully translated, but then relented, diplomatic as possible. "I can see the thing where they have the same bitey bits, though."

The man cringed as discreetly as he could.

"If it helps, think of him not as a dumb bitey animal, but as a... hm. Five year old kid?"

Duo paused to think about it. No, okay, sorry, the setup was just too tempting.

"... With a maw full of teeth."

"Thanks, that was very helpful."

"I live to serve."

Reluctant amusement: achieved. Okay, great, they'd bonded! Could he maybe stop having to waste brainpower on verbal dancing now. "So, that investigation."

The woman said, "It's the middle of the afternoon here, so if you don't mind having a courier bring your things to the Preventers hostel, we can go straight away. Ah, but the Chief said if you were jetlagged or your d -- your wolf had issues, we could wait a bit longer. But between you and me--"

"We're fine," Duo said. Killer nosed her. Gun scents, nice scents. No animal scents. A human cub. Chocolate?

_Killer, no. She's taking us hunting. No chocolate._

"He'll probably try to thieve your chocolate once we're done for the day," Duo reminded himself to add. How would she know if he didn't make mouth noises at her? Poor blind wolf-less human.

There were no autonomous groundcars in this colony, but if you had either money or a badge you could get a priority railcar, basically an eight-person, automated little bullet train. Killer wedged himself in the narrow alley between the seats and flopped down, forcing the Preventers to do the splits across his huge ass to get to a seat. The dude one chose to keep standing by the door after he was done typing their destination in, weirdly enough.

"He's pretty big, isn't he," the woman one said dubiously as she measured his stretched-out length. Duo snorted out a laugh, remembering Shark and Glenfiddich.

"Pretty mid-sized actually."

"... No way."

Did he want to have a conversation? Usually he would, but they didn't know how sociable he was pretending to be usually and there were scents everywhere, and then the car docked into an elevator and moved them to the next layer and Duo and Killer could feel Killer's whiskers twitching differently, could feel as if the weight of their fur/clothes was taken in a little more by the ambient air, almost unnoticeable but... not.

It'd probably help if he arrived on scene and was not entirely non-verbal. Shit, he hadn't done that since the Church.

It'd been _way_ too long since they hunted together if being dragged under sounded appealing. Okay, yes, mouth noises it was.

"Yes way." A pause. Okay, good start, now more words. Come on, Duo. "On the long side of mid-sized, but he could be several dozen pounds heavier and he still wouldn't be the one built most like a brick shithouse."

Oh hey, they were in the dark. Tunnel to the next level up. Some of the light bulbs inside this car needed changing. He didn't mind, though, Killer knew exactly where everything and everyone was.

For a moment there was no answer. Okay, he wasn't the only one having trouble with conversation. Cool. Yellow light poured in from the next level as they crossed through, and then the outside went dark again. Duo didn't even need to move to feel as if several pounds had been taken off his shoulders. Killer's tail started to beat in the dust and dried up chewing-gum stuck to the car's floor.

"... Anyway."

"We're here," the dude Preventer said, face blank, relief rising from his skin through the cloud of fear-sweat and adrenaline. Duo sighed and climbed to his feet.

He and the woman were almost bowled over by Killer, who had decided that he was in too much of a hurry to backward-walk himself free, and had flip-squirmed his way over the back of the seats, and then bounced through the door much too lightly for a creature so massive. Duo barked out a startled laugh and bounced to follow.

It felt so nice, so nice! He thought maybe he was even light enough to do a flip --

 _Killer, no!_ Duo sent, because no, he wasn't yet. Next level of the colony, he would be light enough, but right now he would manage maybe three fourths of a flip and crash nose first into the floor. Killer growled his annoyance, eyes narrowed, until Duo gave in and did a hands-free flip himself, all his senses wide open to share the world whirling with his brother.

(Not that he couldn't do as much in normal gravity, but it was the intent that counted.)

"There, happy?"

Killer wagged his tail. _Yes._ A tongue-lolling grin. _Hunt now, happier._

"You jerk. Okay, let's go."

"The scene is," one of his babysitters started to say, but Killer could smell the gunpowder on the air, coming in from a wave of hot, recycled colony "breeze," fresh from a vent. Duo knew the intervals at which those were usually installed; they were already trotting ahead before Duo remembered it might not be all that polite and looked over his shoulder to grin and shrug an apology.

There were people there, in uniforms, local cops and Preventers, possibly waiting for them. Duo and Killer cared only inasmuch as they would have the sample scent they were supposed to track at hand. Killer trotted forward, head low to the ground, and ignored the humans' reactions entirely as he circled, (incidentally forcing them to close ranks,) cataloguing the smells of people and leather and various brands of shoes.

"Duo Maxwell and Killer, reporting as ordered," Duo said, and didn't bother to keep the cheerful note out of his voice. "No worries, he's just making sure he can filter you out of the scene." The woman did not look convinced as Killer sniffed at the back of her knee. "Or track you, either or."

He offered a hand to shake at random; a woman Preventer with short red hair and the woman cop reached at the same time, twitched at each other before the cop managed to get him first. Oh, territorial pissing contests, awesome.

"I'm Detective Halcourt."

"Agent Serris," the Preventer inserted.

"I was told you were still a trainee?"

Halcourt smelled of gunpowder and canned vegetables and vitamin powder. Her sweat had the unique tang of lifelong colonists. She sounded suspicious, maybe a little worried. Duo shrugged.

"We were in the war, Detective, we might not be up to date on the Preventer code of conduct yet but we're really not civilians." He prompted Killer to nose at her arm, on the side where she wasn't carrying her gun (there was getting her attention, and then there was getting the wrong kind of defensive attention.) "My brother is asking for the scent," he said brightly, "he's pretty eager to get started." He was nearly sure she was the one who had it; the Preventer looked sour enough about it.

Still frowning, Halcourt extracted a metal can from an inner pocket, popped the airtight seal. "That's the corner of the table that the previous wolf found marked most strongly," she said -- to Killer, which made Duo smile a little. Killer's ear pointed forward as he listened, nose already traveling hurriedly all over the bit of furniture. Man, they must have sawed it right off, it was pretty hilarious.

Duo let his eyes close halfway, so he wouldn't distract Killer with what he was looking at.

"Male. Older. Huh -- from L2." It tasted like home at the back of his throat, a scent he identified more by the feeling rising unbidden between his brother's mind and his than by the scent itself, too subtle for a human to tell apart from a thousand very close others. "Casual drug user, Rainbow Spark mostly. There's no Burst in his sweat, though plenty on his skin..."

Killer lifted his muzzle off the sample. _Got it_ , he projected, fierce with anticipation. _(teeth snapping closed on the back of someone's neck, tackling to the floor.)_ Halcourt twitched. Huh.

"And we're good to go." He barely stopped himself from jogging through the group and off, turned to Serris. "Ma'am?"

"Right. All my experience of hunting with a wolfbrother comes from Barton and Strauss, a few days ago, but I get the theory."

That'd make one of them who did, Duo thought, but he decided to stay quiet.

"Lyle and Cortez will stick with you. The rest of us will fan out through the streets to cut off anyone you'll flush out who might try to circle around."

Oh hey, now he had names for his shadows. He wondered which was which. "That should work," Duo agreed, and wondered how many tunnels and staircases this place had. One thing he remembered from back home was that unless they blocked people in three dimensions this kind of net only worked for sure on respectable people who did not routinely explore the sewers and maintenance crawlspaces.

 _Doesn't matter,_ Killer said, _won't lose our prey._ Duo gave a quiet chuckle of agreement.

"One thing Director Une warned me to remind you, Maxwell -- I can not hear you think. I _will_ hear you report very regularly on your findings via this radio."

She handed him a headset, which he fit on with barely a sigh. He bet it had a locator beacon in it, and it itched at him, making him want to ditch it as soon as possible, but that was a terrorist reflex. Even if the prey had hacked their frequency and could see him coming that way, the Preventers regs said that it was more important that he could be found by his allies.

"Got it."

"Next corner over is where Barton's brother was attacked with the pepper bomb. The smell should have faded but--"

"Got it," Duo repeated patiently -- only he'd totally cut her off, that was so patient, wow. He couldn't even bring himself to care, Killer's head had swiveled around and he was already starting to trot ahead. Duo needed to follow.

Detective Halcourt fell into step with him as he jogged after his wolf. She reminded him a bit of a Catherine Bloom in her forties, frizzy brown hair and stern-concerned face; he was barely surprised when she asked; "I don't care which side -- but what outfit were you with?", and when a weak, untrained echo of _must have been underage can't have been to the front_ rose to halo it. (Sometimes it happened, hearing someone who wasn't a wolfbrother, though it stayed rare -- and she was nowhere near as loud and clear as Quatre was.)

"My age," Duo answered instead, "is 'not old enough that wasting another three weeks for Coyote Bartonsbrother to get better will make an appreciable difference.' _Ma'am_. By the way, Barton and I are the same age."

He bounded ahead, turning the corner after Killer.

His brother was being cautious, little sniffs only, edging around the pepper scent. For a minute he nosed at a bit of ground that smelled like Coyote and pain, somehow, and he growled softly, and then he was holding his breath to cross the horrible bad evil pepper zone and searching for the prey-enemy scent. It was old and faint, layer upon layer of passerby feet and colony smells to cover it even in the short time that had passed, but Killer was stubborn, and when it was about scents, _very_ patient.

He found it again, and they were off, Lyle and Cortez on their heels.

\--

They'd rested well in the shuttle. Duo's body was trying to tell him it was getting tired, that it'd been hours, but he wasn't jogging fast. He'd found his stride, easy and regular like clockwork, and it felt good.

Killer trotted back and forth, and Duo scanned the streets; whenever one of his shadows started to pant too loudly he would tap the radio and ask Control to switch them out for fresher ones.

 _Up_ , Killer told him, and circled the maintenance door again waiting for Duo to open it. It was locked, half-heartedly; a light kick at the bottom of the door panel where other shoes had left scuff marks by the dozen popped the lock out of alignment, allowing it to open.

"Going up," he said, and followed his brother up clanging metal steps. Someone asked him to wait, that they were sending men to the exit. If he paused now he would lose his pace and his muscles would stop moving like a well-oiled machine, so he said he'd wait upstairs. Killer didn't pause.

Upstairs the lock was solid but the lower panel of the door was gone, edges rusted into reddish lace; Killer wriggled through, Duo dodged low, stepped through, put his back to the wall. He scanned the street, found nothing, no one. It was getting too late for families, not late enough for partying. (Brussels time: one AM. They'd napped in the shuttle. They were fine.)

Lighter here, so nice, and Killer allowed himself one dreamily long, floating jump before he put his nose back to the street, lengthening his endless strides without making them any higher, so he wouldn't lose the faint traces. Duo bounced after him.

(The dude should have taken the public cars, Duo couldn't help but think, with so many users to swamp his scent they'd have lost him in a hot minute, but then he remembered they all had cameras, and the station didn't (usually) have wolfbrothers, so maybe not.)

" _Maxwell, slow **down!**_ " someone said in his ear. Duo grunted an acknowledgement.

"Take the cars to Seventh and B-street intersection, meet me there," he offered instead. He could hear his current shadows breathing hard a half-block behind him, and at this gravity it wouldn't be too hard to catch up; Killer couldn't run all-out or he'd risk losing the thread of scent he followed. It wasn't like they were entirely without backup.

Meanwhile there was either a mole in the local police station or a hacker, as Trowa had told him, and if it was a mole he could see them trying to slow him down as he closed in...

Maybe he was being paranoid.

Something _other_ slammed into his mind -- ( _danger, this is the street you're on, this is the danger zone, you're in it, **move** )_ \-- instant awareness, soul-deep. "Killer!" he yelled, kicking off the ground to dive ahead.

Something exploded behind him with a crash of glass, a cloud of gray dust catching up, surrounding him. He closed his eyes, locked his chest, no breathing, shoved at Killer's mind to keep going, to outrun this.

They could see the street in their minds, even with their eyes closed, the way it branched off left into a narrow alley, how there would be an aeration grate at the end. Killer planted his four paws on the street, pads and claws gripping to redirect his massive bulk; Duo touched the ground hand first, twenty feet past the epicenter of the bomb, rolled once, twice to bleed off momentum, and followed. His feet skidded some; he had to grab onto a street sign pole and swing himself toward the mouth of the alley.

The gray stuff was everywhere. Once inside the alley, Duo cracked his eye open wider, took a sniff, sneezed; shit. _Up!_ he prodded; Killer sneezed in turn and gathered his limbs under his body, ran at the wall, bounced and twisted the way that only worked in low gravity. He landed on the fire escape's first landing with a rattling clang; Duo followed.

The cloud was still expanding, though it thinned as it went. If they stayed on top of the staircase it'd catch up; they would get affected less, but they'd be affected anyway. Duo paused briefly on the third landing to tap his headset. "Maxwell and Killer -- no casualties. Lost our escort."

_(Prey's escaping. )_

There was that. Smiling, he grabbed hold of the guardrail on both sides of the hatch that led to the next level, rammed both feet in. Clang. "In pursuit."

Long, twisty corridors lit by weak blue-green flickers, leading to safe rooms in case the air supply was contaminated or the fans broke (pretty rusty hatches), to escape pods in case the colony broke (he wondered how long since the last maintenance.) He and Killer veered left, once again, paws and feet running muted-soft, hunting; the assailant would be escaping using this space, too. They didn't have a visual, but --

_(I do.)_

Cool.

" _\--xwell -- need to --_ "

"Signal's breaking down," he whispered cheerfully into his headset, and then Killer's ruff prickled up from ears to shoulder blades. Oho. "Live scent found, repeat, live scent found."

After that he shut up because there was no need to yell they were coming, now was there.

They ghosted along the trail, stalking. They could capture their prey now, or... hm. Nah. Better to see where it was running to.

 _Fun_ , Killer told him, _so fun, so fun, hunt chase stalk, doesn't know!_

 _You little psychopath_ , Duo laughed back, silent, teeth bared.

_But sneaky._

_Yeah, it's fun to be sneaky._

They were starting to hear footsteps, hurried; the man was jogging, though, not running at full tilt. Hm.

 _(flush him out),_ said another voice, _(waiting net/pack/corral-of-people, doitnow)_

Huh, yeah, they had to be near the elevator-car-train things, no doubt there would be cops -- there _were_ , he could almost smell them, fanning out, looking for him, ("Damn it, if we lose the Director's rookie" -- "where the hell did that asshole and his hellbeast--").

_... Yeah, okay. Killer?_

Killer lolled his tongue for a second, and then took a deep breath, and _howled_.

The amount of noise was horrific. Metal walls and narrow corridors bounced the sound along, everywhere, echoed it all over the place.

Scrabbling feet, a sudden stink of fresh sweat and adrenaline.

Duo let out a pretty good imitation of a wolf snarl, and tried not to laugh; Killer allowed his claws to rake the floor as he touched down only to leap forward again, _so light!_ The man was running full-tilt now, and they were both tired, they'd been running all day; Duo barely felt his body anymore but he knew he would, the second they stopped.

There was no way in hell they would lose him now.

Clang, clang, clang, going up metal rungs -- a ladder, who needed a ladder in this gravity.

Though the manhole hatch was going to be pretty narrow for his brother, Duo realized a second later as he turned the corner to watch it slam closed. Damn, so maybe the prey was vaguely smart. (Coyote would have fit through there, he was sure.) Where to --

_(Next turn, left and then right, smells like salt and beer and old stale piss and human sweat (what's a hobo?))_

They went. (It did smell exactly like advertised.) They burst through a group of old, well-used men and women, still flailing with nerves after Killer's howl, bounced across the room, and were gone. Cardboard was blocking a broken window; Killer jumped right through, Duo on his heels. They rebounded onto the street and flipped left and there it was, there he was, the running man. He threw them a panicked look over his shoulder and started leaping down the street at breakneck speeds.

" _\--Maxwell! You --_ "

"In pursuit! Asian male, in his twenties, shoulder-length black hair, dark blue shirt, knee-high black boots--"

" _\--We've got you on the map, keep going--_ " _(they're waiting at the corner, another two crossroads, don't let him turn--)_

 _Won't_ , he and Killer promised.

He let Killer speed ahead, the wolf keeping low to the ground, though his paws barely had enough time to brush, to speed him ahead, before he was leaping forward again. No way he would attain that kind of speed anywhere on Earth, no way a man would match, with only two feet to push off of and no long, strong back to snap himself forward.

" _\--must not make the arrest yourself--_ "

He wasn't stupid. He didn't have a gun, of course he wouldn't.

_(Not stupid/doesn't have a gun. Huh.)_

_Oh, fuck you, buddy._

Half a block ahead, Killer snapped his fangs at the man's heels to keep him from turning into another street, and had to brake hard not to overtake him, or he and Duo would have to make the arrest right there. Passersby hurried to find cover, or stared dumbly, pressed against the buildings -- not the best place for it.

Killer had to pretend to stumble to let the man gain momentum again, but then they were almost at the corner behind which --

_(Stop.)_

Killer braked hard. The suspect dodged into the next street.

_(Go back a block.)_

_You could tell us where the fuck we're going!_ Duo threw back, but he went, landing in a deep crouch and then kicking back the way he had come from. It didn't take Killer long to catch up.

(From the yelling behind him the suspect had run right into the waiting arms of the local police. Success.)

_(Shh running now. Preyburrow/wolfless too slow. Right-left-right follow the chemical burn in your nose.)_

It was so easy. The images were so clear, the position of everyone in all three dimensions, every member of the hunt, every obstacle, Duo and Killer's and the others' specific abilities, the terrain they were dealing with, everything unrolling smooth and lightning-fast -- if you do this/then we do that, you can/then we can/yes.

_Yes. There._

Duo didn't know who had even thought it first.

Some old little shop, large windows, grimy. Plastic, not glass, wouldn't break. He flipped over his wolf, Killer crouching low to brake with his paws planted wide, braced his shoulder blades against Killer's side; a good hard kick to the door lock sent it crashing into the wall. (Crazy how rusted and weak everything was around here. Made him miss home almost.)

Front room, empty, backroom noisy with people running. "Preventers! Freeze!" Like hell they would, but it was almost fun to bark it out like that, even more fun when Killer snarled and threw himself bodily at the next door, ramming it with his shoulder and shaking the whole frame before letting Duo tear off the electronic lock's cover and slap two wires together to force it open. (Funny how that one actually locked.)

The backroom had been converted into a laboratory; the heavy equipment had been broken and left behind. Duo caught a glimpse of someone running out of the back door, a backpack on their shoulders -- _fucking morons, leave the drug, make more later_. He jumped over the table, Killer snaked his way under it, and they were chasing people once again. (Man were his thighs starting to ache.)

The back door opened onto a narrow alley, almost a long corridor. The buildings all along were full of fire escapes and ramps, some really not regulation -- planks going from one side's second story to the other side, but the prey was on the ground level, even though they were going to try leaping up to reach a first floor landing in a hot second.

One of them did try it, at that, and then a yellow streak of fur burst out of a first-floor window and caught it -- him? -- right in the ribs.

Duo got to watch the man and the other bondwolf pinball to the next wall over and hit in oddly slow motion. The way they rebounded before drifting to the floor seemed almost too slow for any real damage, but the man flopped like a bag of bones on landing and didn't move again.

The yellow wolf -- Mary -- stood in the middle of the alley, staring at the last one -- woman? -- and not growling, not flicking her ears, no nothing.

 _Gunpowder and rage scents_ , she shared, just as the drug runner shoved a hand into her pocket to grab her weapon.

Heero landed on her with pinpoint accuracy.

The gravity was too weak for him to feel like a ton of bricks, but once he was on her back it was a really simple matter to immobilize her arms and force her to let go. Duo hopped closer and tried not to grin (and tried not to yell _where have you **been** , you goddamned asshole_); he kicked the gun aside where no one could get at it in a hurry, and oh, he wanted to -- nrgh, but Killer wanted it more, so he set about checking the unconscious man for weapons and life-threatening issues. He worked blind, hands feeling their way, he couldn't even take his eyes off Heero that long. The asshole might ghost away again if he did!

Killer bounced his way past Heero, ears up and tail wagging, and then he and Mary touched noses and -- and a rush of hot wind through an Earth city, car exhaust and dog markings and stray cats, ice cream melting sweet and cloying on the pavement tangled itself up with hot asphalt and the blood-like tang of rust in the back of your mouth, with ozone and burnt plastic and overloading engines and cordite and nitroglycerin and blood.

Heero finished securing the thrashing woman with the straps of her own backpack and finally turned to look at Duo, to let Duo see more than the back of his head for the first time in two fucking years. His hair was still a mess of thick brown hair, cut short over the back of his neck and falling on his face. No spandex and tanktops, though; he wore miner overalls, zipped up to his throat, it was a wonder Duo had recognized him at all!

 _I did wear other things,_ Heero sent, with flickers of images of other outfits he'd worn, but Duo shrugged them off with the retort that they all felt like disguises.

He couldn't believe they were talking about _clothes_.

_I'm not the one in uniform._

_Fuck you so much._

He secured the man's arms with handcuffs Trowa had handed him -- so practical! -- and straightened up. His thigh muscles burned with the strain, his hip sockets protested. He thought if he sat down he wasn't going to get back up again.

"What the hell are you even doing here?" he asked, and held his hand out for Mary. "Hey girl. All grown up, now, I see."

Last he'd seen her she was a teenage wolf, all gangly and barely reaching the middle of Killer's barrel; she was almost Killer's height at the withers now, and her short, dense coat underlined an impressive musculature. She was probably heavier than Duo's brother was.

 _Strong_ , she agreed, and allowed him to trail his fingers along her muzzle.

"So what's with the miner disguise?"

Heero checked that the woman was well secured and looked up at him. "It's not a disguise. I work there."

Huh. Yeah, okay, there was rock dust on his pant legs and his sleeves, and traces of sweat. Yeah. He still didn't look big, even for an eighteen-year-old, but Duo could see him mining, strangely enough. Wow. So weird, imagining Heero Yuy, mystery pilot-slash-hacker-slash-asskicker extraordinaire, holding that kind of physical job.

"... Huh. So how the heck did no one notice Mary?"

"We stay on the asteroid. Too many cameras on the colony." _Had to disable so many to make ourselves a way to here_ , Heero thought/remembered, not quite _at_ him, but... openly enough that Duo could hear it if he tried, could even see flashes of Heero's hands typing away, dismantling control panels, rerouting feeds, of Mary sneaking through the very precise, narrow paths on which she was invisible.

Wow, it was almost like having an actual conversation, instead of a terse exchange of the bare minimum of necessary information. Duo thought he liked it. Like, a lot.

" _\--Maxwell where the fuck are you!?--_ "

Whoops. _Heero, stay here!_ he pushed at him before he gave the address, and the fact that he had two more suspects in custody and yeah, okay, he wouldn't mind backup to pick them up. Shit, there was no way Heero would stay that long and allow himself and his sister to be seen, and then Duo wouldn't even get to know how he and Mary had known to be here, to help --

(That synergy, so perfect. Was this what it was like to hunt with your own pack? He didn't want to lose it again, Killer didn't want--)

"I was the one who told Une about the drugs in the first place," Heero said, almost absently, and looked at his sister. Mary stared back, for a second, something passing between them out of range of the pack bond, and then she gave Killer a nudge with her muzzle and turned away.

"Wait -- what? But she said she wasn't in contact with you!" Duo protested, even as Mary jumped against a wall and rebounded across the street to catch herself on a windowsill. Her sleek yellow tail disappeared into the shadows, and then Heero followed, catching the edge of the window with his hands and pulling himself up, smooth and effortless.

 _She thinks she isn't,_ Heero sent, a last thought, and then he was gone from Duo's mind again.

Killer whined, went up on his back paws to claw sadly at the wall, then flopped back down.

"Yeah, me too, buddy. Me too."

With a sigh, he checked on the prisoners again. The woman tried to spit on him and kick him in the knee, so Duo pursed his lips and pointedly said nothing when Killer sat on her.

He wondered if it would feel like that, to hunt with Trowa and Wufei. Maybe they ought to make more efforts to finally be promoted enough to get to try.

Cameras or not, he was going to have to tell Une -- Glen might not recognize Mary's scent on Killer's fur but Coyote would, and the prisoners had no reason not to mention them anyway. But by the time anyone got around to checking on the mining asteroid for a war vet and his wolf they'd be long gone, and who knew how long it'd take to meet again.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short, because I'm evil. >:D
> 
> (ok also because it felt like a different chapter from what's coming up after it, but mostly because evil.)

It wasn't the closest bar to the Preventers headquarters -- and the other one did see a somewhat regular stream of wolfless agents. It wasn't the closest, but it was big enough inside to allow tables to spread out a bit, and there was a small backyard with an old, gnarled tree the owner didn't mind letting the wolves piss all over and struggling wild grass they were allowed to dig up and roll on.

The one rule was that they were to wipe their paws when they came back in the room. It was pretty insane how fast peer pressure and the owner's firm _if you don't then you don't get to go out_ had trained Killer to do it. Duo barely had to push.

"Left you alone, has he?"

Duo looked over his shoulder, smiled, made space at the counter. Rosca slid in with a little grunt of acknowledgement. His ancient queen lay by the old chimney at the other end of the room -- it was unusable but they'd put a very real space heater in it and everyone knew the spot on the hearthstone was hers.

"Killer? -- Ah, two beers on tap, one black tea, please. Yeah, he's out in the yard with Coyote." He grinned wider. _Runty wolf, can't smell! Someone who is not Killer might shove him down and nibble on his ears! Can't be allowed._

The man snorted, amused. "Figures that's what it would take."

He placed his own order -- harder stuff, but then again he didn't go out on the field anymore and Folha was hardly going to lose control and attack someone in the grip of her brother's drunken frolics. And then they waited together. Duo wasn't too sure what to strike up a conversation about, though he couldn't help but instinctively like the old man, to _want_ to talk with him. Folha's health maybe? ... No, that was more worrisome than something for idle conversation. She was just _old_ , Duo hadn't known animals could live that old.

"Be easier if we could allow him to fight it out," Rosca eventually said, a little gruff. "Once and for all, let the whole pack know where he stands. Only..."

Only Killer deserved his name, and didn't know how to fight, how to injure in ways that weren't either permanent or fatal. "Yeah." Duo sighed.

He didn't commit the mistake of thinking Rosca and Folha had no real authority, for all that their official status in the Preventers was relatively low. Where Folha led, the pack would follow. And Folha listened to her brother's opinions. The guy wanted to hear good thing, and he actually had the right, and... Well, it wasn't all bad news.

"He's started trying to push Glen around some, bodily I mean. Glen allows it, you get the feeling he finds it funny, so..."

"Mnh. Also helps that you actually consider Chang your packmate, I think."

... Ouch.

The barmaid put Duo's order and Rosca's bourbon down before them; Rosca picked his up, nodded. "Gather you lot have things to talk about tonight, but perhaps tomorrow you could come and sit with me for a while. Later, Killersbrother."

_(Ozone and burnt wires) what?_

_Oh. Tomorrow we're hanging out with Folha._ And all the people dropping by for a chat. Rosca's table rarely went by ten minutes without someone stopping to say hi. No doubt after that Duo would be encouraged to make his own rounds. _It's fine, stay with Coyote._

Wasn't a bad idea, anyway. And Killer liked her, besides. Balancing his drinks as well as he could, he brought them back to the little table in the corner where Wufei and Trowa were sitting.

Wufei had, of course, thieved his spot against the wall. Duo narrowed his eyes at him. Wufei blinked back slowly and held out a hand for his tea.

"Do you want it to go to Glen, Chang? Is that what you want?" he asked, stepping over Glenfiddich's stretched-out form. "Because I can do that, there would be no problem, really." The wolf was sprawled on his side, his back to their table, long fluffy fur picking up all kinds of dust and things from the bar floor. He shifted a little when Duo pulled a chair back to allow him to sit, tongue lolling, eyes half-closed.

"Stop bitching and sit down," Trowa advised, and picked up the beers from Duo's arms. Duo sat, sideways in his chair so he could see at least some of the room, and frowned pointedly at Wufei to make sure he knew to keep watch on what was going on behind Duo's back.

"I'm not _bitching_."

"You're bitching."

"If you're not bitching, I would enjoy a better explanation of what the word entails."

"Oh, fuck you both."

"You haven't got the stamina," Trowa returned casually, and took a sip. Wufei slid him a sideways glance, but declined to comment. Duo unbent enough to chuckle.

"Rosca just decided to take an active hand in our socialization."

"Hm." Wufei's eyebrows went up. "Well. He certainly has experience in matters of pack dynamics. I'd accept it gladly in your place." _Never was that bad for us, Glenfiddich already knew it all (Kushrenada to the tip of his claws.)_

Duo carefully ignored the thought of Treize. The man was dead and gone and Duo really didn't miss him. Fuck him for making Wufei and Glen and Une dance to his tune even from beyond the grave, anyway.

"Wasn't saying I was gonna say no." Bleah, his beer tasted of Glen's scent name now, hanging in the metaphysical air. Which would have been fine if Glen's name was only made up of whiskey, but sweaty, lathering buck deer wasn't exactly tasty. "I'd have to be stupid to. Shut up, no comment."

Wufei snorted, and Trowa pointedly redirected his own attention to his drink. They sipped in silence for another minute or two.

"So," Wufei said. "Yuy."

"Mnh." Duo glowered at the table. He'd been chewed out by Une for wandering off and arresting people by himself but he didn't even give a shit compared to Heero's disappearing act.

"Physical status?"

"Healthy, uninjured. From what I could see, anyway, but you know how much that matters with him, that bastard walks on broken legs when he feels like he has to and if you didn't see him align the break himself you'd never have a clue."

Trowa snorted, a tickle of amusement dancing through the pack sense. Duo kicked at the leg of his chair. He'd stop bringing it up it when he stopped hearing the wet crunching noise in his mind, okay.

"Anyway he looked pretty well-fed, and he's grown to maybe two inches taller than I am, and Mary's coat wasn't dull or anything. And man did she look solid, so he probably still exercises enough for ten reasonable people. No low-grav diseases there."

"Behavior?"

"Bland and cryptic, so let's go with 'normal'."

"Might even dare a 'fine'," Trowa added, expressionless. Duo kicked his chair again.

"What I don't get," he started, lowering his voice -- if he let it go as loud as it wanted the next tables would soon know quite a bit, "is why the fuck he even showed himself and contacted me! There were just two drug runners left, only one of them had a gun, and they were built more like chemistry nerds than like muscle, anyway, the muscle was the guy we chased. He could have taken them alone, easy. So why...?"

Wufei's eyebrows furrowed in thought. "Yes, there's very little reason to do so. Unless he suddenly felt the need to pass on the message to Une that he was her mystery informant..."

Grumbling, Duo swallowed a long mouthful. Yeah, no other reason, huh.

"He didn't need to let you see him in order to check on you," Wufei said, not as sharp somehow. Duo twitched, looked up.

"Why would he want to check on anyone physically, anyway? I mean, if he wants to keep track of us, he can do it online. Still getting his salary, not touching his healthcare, must be in working order and ready to be deployed. Right?"

"Hm. Barton? Thoughts? You've been around him longer than any of us."

Trowa snorted, a faint smile on his face. "I mostly learned that his logic was beyond any mortal ken."

"Maybe he knew we would like an update on his continued aliveness status..." Wufei suggested. The three of them scoffed as one.

"No but seriously." Duo sighed, patted Killer's head, which had suddenly inserted itself under his arm. _Done digging?_ he asked, and was answered with a sense of deep satisfaction, the smell of overturned earth. Well, that was one of them who got to be satisfied. "Why the heck would he want to meet in person otherwise, I don't get it."

Coyote blinked at him over the table with his moon-pale, eerie eyes. _Mary said._

"... Mary said?"

 _Needs good smell_ , Killer added like a _duh_.

The three pilots stared at the wolves, blinking long and slow.

"Coyote. Did you know Mary was there when we were hunting?"

 _No._ Coyote blinked again, and stretched his neck and lapped at the condensation pearling on Trowa's beer bottle. _Hot-asphalt-and-rust-on-steel knows._

Okay. What. Obviously Duo should have questioned his wolf more deeply over what he and Mary were chatting about. "... Killer. When the heck -- what -- did she tell you that? What?"

 _Cordite-and-nitroglycerin-and-blood sees him hurt, summer-wind-in-the-city knows._ Killer looked at him, confused. _Wants a smell. Te-le-vi-sions lie._

"She wanted to make sure Coyote was alright?" Trowa asked, quiet and slow, almost cautious.

Killer replied with vague confusion that they cared so much what had happened in the past; it was done now, she knew he was fine, all was good.

"Oh." A faint smile flicked over Trowa's face, quickly gone. Duo swallowed another long mouthful, scanned what he could see of the room.

Preventers and their wolves everywhere. Some wolfless men, even a local fireman with his sister, being given a cautious but willing welcome as representatives from the neighboring pack.

"Heh," went Wufei. Duo's eyebrows twitched.

"So he only hangs out with any of us when his wolf makes him. Awesome. That asshole."

He finished his beer in one long gulp and got up to get himself another one.

\--

Security and Wufei's passcard let them back in the compound way past curfew, but Duo was tipsy enough not to want to attempt stealth in a dorm room full of wolfbrothers. Especially wolfbrothers who didn't like him very much as it was.

Also... Damn it, but Rosca was right. Trowa and Wufei were pack in a way no one else around here was.

"Hey, Wuffster."

"If you want a favor from me this is a bad way to start," Wufei cautioned him as he navigated their way through the corridors. Duo followed, one hand on each wolf to keep himself balanced.

"Who said I wanted a favor from you," he grumped back.

Wufei's mind tapped his, wordless but wryly mocking even so. Duo pursed his lips and scowled.

"Yeah okay shut up. Can I crash on your floor?"

Stupid Trowa and his pocket apartment off campus. Why did he get to yeah, okay, right, _he_ wasn't a trainee anymore. Blargh.

"You're aware it's heavily discouraged for a higher-ranked member to let a trainee spend the night, right?"

Duo stared at him for a few seconds, and then started laughing. Whoops, shit, he was making too much noise; he tried to muffle his amusement and only partially succeeded. "Oh no, my virtue."

"Your what?"

"Pfff. Fuck you."

"I thought that was what we were trying to avoid," Wufei replied, one eyebrow up. Duo cracked up again.

"No but who the hell would believe you can tell me to do _anything_ , anyway."

"That's a fairly good point," Wufei replied, in a way that meant it likely shouldn't have been and Duo ought to be ashamed. Bwahaha, as if. "I suppose you'll spend the night in a corridor if I don't let you in, anyway..."

He unlocked the elevator, let Duo and the wolves stuff themselves in before he followed, and didn't even pretend to press on the dormitory level.

_Thanks, man._

_Don't mention it. I mean that quite literally it never happened._

_Woo reality rewriting._

Wufei's room was pretty big, as those things went -- a bed for him, a blanket that was almost as large as the bed itself for Glenfiddich, a rather wide desk, a couple of armchairs and a TV in the corner.

"The TV came with."

He even had a handkerchief-sized bathroom tucked away, which Duo investigated as Killer was snuffling at Glen's blanket. "Goddamn, I want to be an officer."

"Who in their sane mind would ever let you, though, is the question."

Like Wufei was any more reasonable than he was. He just _looked_ calm and serious. The guy had a temper the size of an active volcano, and, once flowing, just as easily dammed.

Glen walked in a tight little circle on his blanket and laid down; Killer drank in his water dish and then joined him, flopping against his back and propping his head on Glen's fluffy side. Sleepy wolves, d'aw.

Wufei took the first turn in the bathroom, and then when Duo came out afterwards the ceiling light was off and only a bedside lamp was still on and he was in bed already, reclining against the headboard. Duo went to the blanket and sat between Killer's front and back legs, made himself comfortable against his barrel.

Click. Darkness.

"I would have let you have the foot of my mattress," Wufei said in the dark. Duo chuckled, eyes closed.

"Fine here, thanks."

"Until they move in their sleep and you end up at the bottom of the pile."

"At least I ain't gonna die cold."

"Just crushed into paste."

"Mmh."

He was tipsy, and warm, and the way Killer's ribs expanded with his breath should have rocked him to sleep, but when he came close he couldn't help but think about Heero again, why he'd appeared and left so quickly, whether Duo ought to be grateful that at least he had proof of life. It hurt a bit, how little he seemed to care. Was Duo a peer or just a convenient tool to use, that Heero knew could take the rough handling he needed?

"Do you always think so loudly?"

Duo flinched, opened his mouth to retort, said nothing, because Wufei was thinking _me too_.

"It's rather strange, isn't it," Wufei mused, "how he manages to make people want to... prove themselves to him, somehow."

"Mmh." Duo sighed, opened his eyes to stare at a ceiling he could barely guess at. "Weird Heero magic. The guy has the social skills of dead roadkill and the emotional range of an unfriendly skunk, but you just..."

God, Duo during the war. His whole interaction with Heero could be summed up as _oh my god you're ballsy and badass and oddly hilarious let me show off how much I can match you and then we can be friends._

"He's exceptional."

Duo snorted, tried not to think _'he's **cool** , man.'_ "Exceptionally _insane_."

"Heh. That too."

There was a pause, both of them contemplating things just below the intelligible threshold. Maybe a little beer-wavery still -- he and Trowa had managed to badger Wufei into joining in at the third beer, so it wasn't just him at least.

"It's interesting how our most honest conversations only happen when we're mentally altered."

Duo blinked. "Uh?"

"Well. Last time we were dealing with oxygen deprivation..."

"Wufei?"

"Hm?"

"Go to sleep."

He snorted. "You first."

"No, _you_ ," Duo replied maturely.

"Guests first, I insist."

Duo pushed himself up against Killer's side, pouted into darkness. "Do you always get this bratty when you drink?"

"Maxwell, I am turning nineteen next month, I believe I can be as bratty as I wish." _I've been in two wars, to hell with this it's ridiculous and I want it._

\--ah. "Do you want a pillow fight next?" Duo asked, a little dubious. "I think it's the next step" -- _I'm not sure--_ "but I'm pretty sure my pillows would annihilate yours."

A rough chuckle. "I don't think you could throw Glenfiddich without using a crane, but good luck."

They settled down, quiet falling again. It was a nice quiet, though. Duo realized he was smiling a little, and wondered if maybe Wufei was smiling too. It was ridiculous, he felt like -- like a normal teenager, at a normal sleepover. It was -- just nice.

At least they had that.

Duo was more than halfway asleep when his Preventers-issued cell phone started vibrating. He was sitting up in a leap, digging it out of his back pocket and making Killer kick him in his sleep. Behind him Wufei's sheets were rustling -- it wasn't just his phone, it was both of theirs, and --

\-- and there was a message with Trowa's name in the sender field, a message titled "Guess who," and when Duo clicked it open it was nothing more than a photograph of Trowa's ratty puke-brown couch, with a ball of yellow fur tucked in tight over one half of it and Heero with his long cyclist's legs thrown across his sister, his head on the armrest and one of his eyes cracked open to glare malevolently at the camera.

"Son of a _bitch_. How am I supposed to sleep now?!"


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> FUCKING FINALLY. that chapter was such a pain and idk why. Thanks to Adi for the beta! ^^
> 
> public embarrassment squick heads up! it's not a huge thing but, still not pleasant either.
> 
> Person/wolf pairs are Duo (motor about to overload)/Killer (rusting car carcass on hot pavement), Trowa/Coyote, Wufei/Glenfiddich (stag and snow), and Heero (cordite and nitroglycerin and blood)/Mary(summer wind through the city).
> 
> Relevant OCs: Wangai/Shark (fish blood and storm at sea) and Rosca/Folha (lathering horse in harness)

"Can't go -- haring off -- Maxwell -- he says," Duo grunted, "That asshole -- then _he_ goes--"

 _Bite him_ , Killer agreed as he attacked an obstacle with vengeful enthusiasm.

"Chang -- fucking -- hate you!"

The wolfless trainees he was passing on the track stared at him. Who cared! Duo sped up some more. He wished Wufei and Glen were in range to hear him rant at them -- or listening, either or, he couldn't tell if they were close or not. Trowa and Coyote were definitely close enough, and radiating smug and _nothing else_.

"That's your twelfth lap, Maxwell!" Wangai threw as he passed her again. Exasperation and worry flicked through from her ( _ten laps a day two too many/going too fast angry_ ), almost fainter than Coyote even though he and Trowa were probably all the way across the Preventers compound.

"I don't care!" he yelled back. He should probably tone down the histrionics some, but --

Killer passed Shark with barely a glance. He was _running to find summer-wind-in-the-city_ and who cared about _storm at sea and fish blood_ , she was _close close waiting_ and if they ran really fast they could maybe go find her??

Duo didn't have the heart to explain to him that no matter how fast they ran they still wouldn't get any free time to go _find Mary!_ before noon at best.

It did spend some superfluous adrenaline, though. Duo couldn't help it, it was pavlovian at this point. Whenever Heero appeared in his life, military coups and prison breaks followed, it was just the way it was. He could tell this time was different -- why was Heero coming _in person_ to the Preventers, he was a solo agent down to the bone, the quintessential lone wolf --

_Not alone? Got summer-wind-in-the-city._

_So I guess they're a two-wolf pack then. Hah._

Killer sent him a burst of confusion, and then pushed it away to aim his flying jump right through the middle of a suspended hoop, so that no paw or even fur brushed the edges. Next up was a cloth tunnel, which he crawled through with great enthusiasm: Duo didn't wait up, he'd catch up soon enough.

Anyway, he could _tell_ it was different, and that was just as adrenaline-inducing as the more -- hah -- normal "hey, time to blow shit up" occasions.

By the time the instructor blew his whistle to get the stragglers to come in -- mostly Makisig and his cub and a couple of the most out of shape wolfless trainees -- Duo and Killer were starting their sixteenth lap. Sighing, Duo aborted and went back. Killer danced around him, even though his pads were getting sore from the hard ground. _Summer-wind-in-the-city now??_

_No, combat training first._

Killer growled grouchily. _I can fight! Good fighter. Don't need taught._

Bluh. Yeah, wolves and daily schedules didn't make for great friends -- at least not when there was no dinnertime involved. Urgh, what could he say to -- ah.

_Gotta be a good example to Chiquito. He doesn't know how to fight! How's he gonna defend Makisig if no one shows him?_

Killer paused, tilted his head. _... Hm. True yes. Teach cub!_

He trotted ahead to go nose at said cub, who jumped in surprise and then started dancing around him, butt wagging all over the place. Duo couldn't help laughing a little. Still damn cute.

The drill instructor and his sister were waiting patiently by the door of the gym for the group to catch up. Duo followed his wolf in.

"Today I'm testing your previous combat training," Segura told them, which his sister Bazooka, sitting beside him, reinforced with a sharp, _fight bad humans! show us how_. "One by one, you'll go at one of the dummies--"

Killer flicked his ears in bland acceptance and raced at the dummy Segura was waving his hand at. He feinted it, even though it didn't move, dodged a bullet that wasn't coming and leapt. His maw snapped closed like a bear trap on the mannequin's face, and he allowed his momentum to spin his massive weight sideways around that new pivot point.

Crack, crack. He did a side-flip in the air to point his paws downwards and landed on all fours with a jaunty bounce. The mannequin's stuffed head was still in his jaws; he went trotting off to Chiquito and dumped his trophy at the pup's feet. Duo facepalmed.

"Good job, buddy. I ... think it's dead."

Chiquito nosed at the mannequin head, tail wagging, a bit confused but happy to push it around with his muzzle and try to pin it with a paw, radiating happiness that Killer had given him a _toy just for me!!_. Killer turned his head to look at Duo, projecting strong and sure, _Dead yes._

 _Noticed._ The dummy's back was broken, too, on top of its missing head; it listed backward on its support, still standing somehow.

_Not enough dead?_

"Killer, no--!"

Ooookay, now the mannequin was down an arm, and its other shoulder was caught and shaken savagely in an attempt to break the whole thing off its support entirely. The rest of the pack was staring in silence. Duo sank into a crouch and burrowed his face in his hands, groaning.

Makisig and Wangai started laughing.

"Oh my _god_ , Maxwell. Be honest now, _this_ was your weapon of mass destruction."

Face burning, Duo managed to lift his head enough to glower at Wangai and stick his tongue out very sternly.

(At least their intervention had broken the ice and it was making other people laugh, if not very enthusiastically.)

Killer was energetically digging stuffing out of the poor fake dude's ruptured abdomen and encouraging Chiquito to join in. He even tried to nose the cub's paws into a better position to brace and yank with, but the cub just thought it was part of the game and danced off, fluff in his jaws.

"Sorry, I--"

"No, it's fine, the dummies break a lot," the drill instructor told him, hands in pockets. Bazooka was watching Killer with her head tilted in interest, like she was considering maybe wandering closer to get in on that mad fake-eviscerating action. "We plan for it. Nice moves, too. The fact that he didn't wait for orders, though, that's a bit more of an issue."

Duo groaned again. "I had to tell him we needed to help Chiquito learn how to defend his brother, he didn't want to come. Didn't think he'd take it quite that seriously. He's -- I swear he's not like that with live targets."

... Well, when they were fighting live targets, Duo usually wanted to kill them, so of course Killer wanted to kill them as well, and Duo didn't mind if killing happened and didn't try to stop Killer much. Um.

"He knows how to take a prisoner, I mean. If I tell him." _Think I'd better be the one he demonstrates on_ , he sent Segura in an aside that apparently went through as planned, from the eyebrow quirk he got. _Other wolves would be twitchy if he tried it on their brothers._

"That's a plan. We'll do that later, give the other guys their turn first." Segura's hand landed on his shoulder, heavy, and Bazooka nosed his thigh. Killer's head sprang up from his synthetic prey to stare at the older she-wolf in suspicion. "In the meantime you get to haul a new mannequin from the reserve and put it up. Have fun."

Rubbing the back of his neck and laughing ruefully, Duo went. _Shhh Killer, all good. Silly puppy, got my nose booped a bit, all good. C'mon._

Killer dragged his paws, looking back at Chiquito, who was bouncing around the head and batting it at his mother. Bianchi mostly looked politely confused about it, sniffing it with vague interest.

People organized themselves into groups. Duo opened the supply closet door and clicked the lights on, and started looking for a new puppet.

 _No breaking this one!_ he warned Killer, and heaved one off the wall it leaned on and onto his shoulder. The thing was damn heavy, but he'd carried heavier; it was more a matter of balancing it properly. _Close the door behind us,_ he asked as he made his cautious way through the doorway. Killer nosed the lights off and took the handle in his maw, pulled the door closed delicately, twisting the handle as he went. _Good, thanks._

 _No slobber!_ Killer told him proudly.

Though of course anyone with a nose would know a wolf and his person had come through there, and how come avoiding incriminating moisture or crusted-on saliva bubbles actually helped anything. Bah, humans.

Duo went to switch the remains of the old dummy for the new. Killer insisted to be the one to pull out the remains of the old one -- _no, straight up, it's got a long straight foot thing planted into the ground, you need to -- yeah, good, just like that_ \-- and after that he just had to rebalance its weight and guide it slowly into its port.

When they were done they turned to look at the rest of the newbie pack.

Segura's Bazooka led the charge, the highest ranked bitch wolf (didn't smell quite like bitch wolf but still bitch wolf); Bianchi seemed unsure, undecided, and her cubs milled around her, but Duo could see the way Wangai's Shark tried to fit himself to Bazooka's feints and pounces on that dummy. Sometimes he tried to take the lead, and Bazooka would nip his heels and grab his nose and they'd start again from the beginning, with a patience and technique that was more human than animal.

The unbonded cubs still stumbled around and got distracted, but Duo and Killer could almost feel them clicking in and out of sync, feel the way their attention snapped back to the target, to the holes in the net that the pack was weaving, where they should try to stand. The humans didn't move to help but they would sway from foot to foot, their hands would open and close, and -- huh. This one wolfless trainee wouldn't be wolfless for long. Duo couldn't tell which of the cubs she shifted with, but the look in her eyes was -- still confused around the edges, yes, but unmistakable even so.

This is where I strike, this is where you must be, your heavier weight, my speed, their crucial distraction.

 _Do you want to help?_ Duo made himself ask, but he already knew it wasn't going to happen.

Killer stared up at him, puzzled. Help what, help who? They were doing nothing Killer or Duo wanted to be doing (no prey they wanted to sink their fangs into), and Chiquito didn't need protecting against a dummy. (His mother would growl if he came now anyways.)

Sigh.

Seguro had forgotten them a bit, which was fine -- they needed to practice the hunting pack-mind, and Duo and Killer were so not in it that trying to get in now would jar everyone else out of it. Duo picked up the remains of the dead dummy -- Killer picked up the head -- and wandered off along the side, where mattresses and boards were stacked, he wasn't sure why. Special agility exercises? Anyway there was a door toward the back and if he remembered last week's recon there'd be a dumpster just outside it.

(Folded tarpaulin, springboard, vaulting horse -- why wolves would need a vaulting horse, he wasn't sure -- thick landing mattresses, thigh high and bright blue and soft enough to make rolling off them difficult, he bet...)

 _Springboard_ , Killer echoed slowly, intrigued, and lifted Duo's knowledge about them off his brain -- where you should land for the best bounce, how Killer's weight might interact with that impressive number of steel springs and _oh Jesus fucking hell Killer wait --_

Gallop. Gleeful pounce.

_Boiiiing._

Duo cringed a little. He hadn't really expected his wolf to run face-first into the vaulting horse, and indeed Killer hadn't. He'd sailed right over it (could have done that on his own, just not as effortlessly) to land almost off the thick blue landing mat. The mat fluffed up around him, almost burying him; Killer wriggled and squirmed his way off the mat, landed with a thump, and went right around for an another attempt.

_Flying! Flying flying **look**!!!! _

Pff. He was like a little kid.

Duo propped the puppet remains against the nearest wall and took a jogging start of his own. Boiing, planting a hand on the vaulting horse to pass it -- the springboard had to be made with wolves in mind, because Duo's weight had little effect. It was fun even so, and fuck it, they were allowed to goof off sometimes. He landed ass first in the mat; Killer crawl-flopped his way to him, sending Duo tumbling against his furry side when the mat dipped hard.

 _Fun!_ Killer shared, and licked a stripe across Duo's face. Duo laughed through his splutters.

"Eww! Yeah, okay, it _is_ fun. But only one more time, and then we have to keep going."

Killer grumbled, but squirmed his way to the edge of the mat and rolled off its soft edge gracelessly. Duo hurried to follow before Killer forgot he was there and landed on him.

_And don't land off the mattress!_

Killer took a running start once again -- perfectly timed -- planted his paws, and holy _shit_ the crazy thing, he was doing a _flip_.

He landed on his furry ass, not enough air to complete the turn with his mass fighting so much gravity, but the mattress absorbed it with a whoosh of displaced air and then Killer was tumbling forward on his shoulder, mind full of delight and excitement.

_Again! Again._

_Crap, no, I'd have to move the vaulting horse first, you waste too much energy going up and over it when you need to put it into flipping, you'll hit it sooner or later, I can see it coming big as a house._

_So move it,_ another wolf said, and then, **_you_** _move, flying too_. Duo sidestepped without thinking; a rush of golden fur passed him, sprang on the board, sailed over.

Flop, half on top of Killer.

The mattress shifted a whole foot forward with the impact. The wolves tumbled together, rolled off and onto the floor like puppies misjudging the edge of a cloth basket. Duo had to jump back to dodge a furry butt, was whipped in the ankle by a tail.

They scrambled back on their feet and then Killer was pouncing again, maw open, but Mary sidestepped his lunge and shoulder-checked him -- yeah, definitely more mass -- and caught his muzzle in her own jaws. Her tail curled high; Killer's waved, once or twice, awkwardly, as she led him along literally by the nose.

Duo looked back toward the front door. (Some of the other trainees had paused and were watching the scene; irrelevant, dismissed.) Two wiry, brown-haired young men stood there, a dark, smallish wolf between them.

There was absolutely no way Duo would have mistaken Trowa for Heero at five times the distance, no matter what they were wearing.

Heero was in a Preventers jacket.

 _Will you stop dressing weird already!_ Duo threw, to cover up the swell of astonishment and -- and, oh, huh, who would have thought he'd -- was it another cover? Quick job to do, necessary cover-up? It wasn't so bad, if it was, it'd be something at least--

 _No,_ Heero said, (about what? cryptic asshole!) and then turned to Segura, who was making his way to the door while trying not to throw too many side looks at Mary and Killer. She'd slung a heavy paw across Killer's neck and was in the middle of pushing him down. Killer was growling and trying to wriggle out, more grumpy than angered.

"Segura, Bazooka," Trowa said, and nodded a greeting, even as Coyote took off at a limpy trot to join Heero and Duo's wolves with only a cursory sniff at Bazooka. Duo found himself standing there and unable to decide what he was supposed to do -- finish his self-imposed job first rather than leave debris in the middle, or go to them and potentially intrude on professional matters?

"This is Heero Yuy, and his sister Mary is over there."

"New trainees?" Segura asked, eyebrows up.

"Yeah. Une will want to talk with you about him and Maxwell."

Huh. Alright, he'd heard his name, it was as good as an invitation. Abandoning the dummy, Duo ambled his way to the door, hands in pockets. Behind him scents were blooming, Mary winding her _car exhaust and hot pavement and ice-cream trucks sweet melting in the heat_ all around Coyote's and Killer's scent names, so that her personal landscape seemed to gain a copse of incongruous trees and a rather fitting -- if ghetto-chic -- rusted-over, overheated auto carcass.

"My apologies for disrupting your class," Heero was saying in his quiet, husky voice, in his pretend-to-be-normal-for-the-civilians tone.

All the wolves were turned Mary's way, the puppies dancing awkwardly, quickly herded by their anxious mother, her tail and ears low; Wangai had a hand on Shark's neck, looked ready to reinforce her _stay!_ with a ruff grab.

Segura turned to look at Mary again, as Bazooka's head dipped to sniff cautiously at Heero's feet from half a body length away.

 _Gundam pilot_ , someone was thinking out there, _crap, another one._

_Another crazy wolf? Doesn't look like. (Killer's letting her chew on him. The fuck?)_

Several people. Who the fuck cared.

"I heard my name?" he said, coming up to the group, and tried to resist the urge to punch Heero in the shoulder just because. What the fuck was he doing here? He couldn't --

"Hey, Duo," Trowa said. "Une will want to talk to you after this class."

"Is this where I go 'it wasn't me, headmistress'?"

Heero didn't even snort, just looked away from him, like there was nothing interesting to look at in his direction. Ouch. Duo moved closer, threw an arm around his shoulders, halfway expecting an elbow in the ribs; Heero continued to pretend he was actually a rock.

_Will you talk or do I have to get out the thumbscrews? What are you **doing** here? _

Segura snorted at Duo, opened his mouth, and jerked back. Mary barged in between them like a blond tank, slowing down at the last second before she rammed anyone. Her face was suddenly in Bazooka's face, her scent name expanding like a cloud to take up the space; the other bitch flipped her ears back and hunkered down just a little bit.

Segura's hands opened and closed like he wanted to go grabbing at scruffs, only Duo had been around Preventers and military peeps long enough to know that you weren't supposed to bodily move your wolves away from a confrontation -- they might wellbite if startled.

There was no fight, at any rate; Bazooka's hindquarters went down and she gave Mary's raised chin a tentative lick, which Mary accepted coolly.

"So," Segura said as he watched the scene with a funny look of chagrined amusement on his face. "Dominant bitch, huh."

Duo blinked at him, and then at Heero, who shrugged his shoulder some to get Duo to back off. His face was mostly blank but there was a vaguely puzzled tilt to his brows.

"Dominant? I suppose. She hasn't..." he paused -- hunting for the right word, Duo supposed. "Socialized much."

"Look on the bright side," Trowa said as Coyote waded in to lick at Mary's chin and throat enthusiastically, " _she_ hasn't bitten anyone yet."

Duo mock-glared at him. "Wow, Barton, fuck you. Killer, come and bite him, will you."

Killer was standing back, watching the knot of wolves and people, and he flicked his ears at Duo in mild confusion. _No?_

_Traitor._

"Sir?" Wangai said, a little strained. When Duo looked at her she was being slowly dragged forward as Shark made his very interested way to Mary without caring much for the death grip she had on his ruff.

"They'll have to meet at some point," Segura said, and signaled his sister to step back. "Yuy? What do you think?"

Duo could just about read the 'what even are you asking me?' off Heero. Mary looked fine, though she let Shark come to her and didn't move to meet him in turn, and...

And Duo really wasn't as surprised as he should have been when Killer started moving to get in the middle, head low and stare predatory.

He still wasn't growling. Even Coyote looked troubled about it. (Shark was already bristling, hackles puffing him up even bigger.)

"Killer. The dummy. Go and pick it up. _Now_."

 _No_ , his brother told him back, not looking away from Shark for one second.

Duo was angry suddenly, frustrated and ashamed and just fucking _angry_.

"It wasn't a fucking request."

Killer flinched, looked up at him, honey-gold eyes wide in startled hurt.

"Dummy. Now."

Killer's ears tucked back against his neck, and he turned away reluctantly. Duo let out a long, controlled sigh and followed him, refusing to look at anyone else.

Shit. He could just hear the leaden silence behind him, could borderline feel the awkward looks on their backs, and the wariness. Even the cubs had stopped playing for a while.

Killer had already closed his maw on the dummy's body, toppled it a little awkwardly, was now dragging it toward the side door Duo thought had a dumpster behind it. Duo picked up the head and sped up a bit to shoulder the lock bar open.

He stayed out of Killer's way as the wolf wrestled the dummy and himself past the door, breathing through his nose. Duo couldn't _be_ that angry.

It wasn't even anger at Killer anymore, it was guilt, and shame that made him angry for being ashamed because he'd always hated that feeling, hated being laughed, stared at like his whole being was just so _wrong_ there were no words for it, that the most logical responses to his existence were contempt and derision.

_Wait wait coming too!_

Duo paused in the middle of letting the door slip closed, stared in surprise as an off-black wolf limped his hurried way to them. He let Coyote through out of pure surprise, glanced at Trowa, eyebrows furrowed. Trowa put his fingers in his pockets -- just the fingers, casual as you please -- and turned away to keep talking to Segura.

Well, uh. Okay then. Duo let the door close with a clang.

Coyote was busy nosing at the dummy and snatching at the bottom with his teeth, trying to find a good grip. The goal was _carry evidence_ to the _big stinky-fun box!_ Okay, why not. Duo heaved the top of the dumpster open, chucked the puppet head in, and watched in mild bafflement as the wolves tried awkwardly to raise something as tall as a grown man, and heavier, over their heads. In the end he felt the edges of an idea/memory sparking from Coyote, Killer's considered approval, and they wrestled the thing vertical, propped it against the edge of the dumpster, and bit onto the bottom to slide it upwards until it toppled inside on its own.

A foot off the broken support bottom still stuck out. Duo pushed it farther in, and let the top hinge close.

It said kind of a lot that all Gundam pilot wolves apparently knew how to dispose of a body, he thought.

Killer sneaked him a look, looked away. Duo remembered he'd been angry. He didn't know if he was any longer. Shit, he'd been pretty harsh there.

He didn't know if he wanted to talk to Killer yet, sort it out. Maybe in a minute. The door had locked behind them, so he stuck his hands deep in his pockets and strolled along the outside wall of the gym, following Coyote who'd gone sniffing around and was finding a lot of cigarette butts.

_(hot asphalt and rust on steel) help! Can't smell enough, bad no wrong._

Killer shook himself, and trotted up to the other wolf to inspect whatever it was he had found, tail slowly rising until it once again floated behind him.

Duo let them roam; no hurry to go back in there. The door wasn't that far no matter what, though, and when he reached it he still didn't want to go in. He pinged Trowa with his location and sat on his haunches to wait, lower back pressed against the wall for balance. Trowa responded with a vague feeling of cynical awareness. (Yeah, thanks, I know.) That asshole.

Heero was nowhere to be felt. Fuck it.

Ten to fifteen minutes later Segura let them all go for an early lunch. Duo knew, because the man told him via the pack sense, with a pointed **_you_** _stay_. Duo pulled himself up on his feet and let wolfless people spill out past him. The first wolf to come out was Mary -- if Duo had thought about it, he wouldn't have been surprised -- and after her like a cork poured the rest.

Wangai gave him a little grimace as she passed him that Duo wasn't sure how to interpret; with an apologetic look and a quick wave Makisig hurried on her heels. "Lunch another day?"

Duo mustered up a smile. "Yeah, sure."

The pack sense was almost silent to him. He'd been getting used to intermittent whispers, but apart from his wolf's location and the swing of his tail, the gravel under his paw pads, there was nothing.

He fell into step with Segura and Trowa without a word. Heero walked right beside him; might as well have been at the other end of the Earth Sphere.

Several times he thought Segura was going to speak; but the trainees were taking their time dispersing, and then they turned a corner toward the admin building and it was a full agent, waving at the man. "Hey, Mateo, do you know why -- oh."

Her brother trotted up to Mary to sniff noses, and she didn't growl or look anything worse than neutral. Killer, keeping his distance from the group, kept throwing them sidelong looks and then turning pointedly away, making sure Duo could see him do it. It was -- shit. Like he wasn't feeling guilty enough.

"You new with Preventers?" the woman agent was asking Heero, holding out her hand to shake. Heero really was on his best infiltration behavior, Duo couldn't help thinking, because he took it.

"Signed on this morning," Heero replied with his voice set on neutral, which had the unfortunate effect of making it all quiet and mildly intimate. Or at least something that could be construed as intimate if they didn't know the guy's voice was just naturally buzzy.

Trowa snorted quietly, sneaked him a glance. Duo glowered at him. _What?_

_Absolutely nothing._

_What, it's true!_

Duo could tell Heero had no clue what the hell the woman even wanted with him. Her wolf was bowing to Mary, but Duo wasn't sure Mary played any more often than her brother did.

And Killer was staring at them like he was thinking of wading in. Duo sent him a forceful _no!_ and made the hand signal for "down" behind his back, the flat of his hand moving like a knife.

Segura coughed, cut in. "Sorry, Lauren, the boss is waiting for us." (So she was. Urgh.)

Bazooka nudged the male wolf away from Mary and they herded the lot of them away. Duo forbade himself from looking back to check whether Killer was moving anywhere close to that other wolf. He had _better_ not be if he knew what was good for him.

Duo really fucking hated being this angry at his own brother.

"Maxwell," Segura said, quietly, and nodded at him to slow down; Trowa obligingly passed him, and Heero followed with a quick assessing glance, affording them a pretense of privacy that Duo didn't believe one second, between the pack sense and the acuity of Coyote's ears.

"Yeah?"

The guy sighed, staring at him. "Correcting him was the right thing to do. Both here and earlier."

Duo twitched. Great, lesson from his wise elders time. "I wasn't going to let him attack someone again," he replied, and stuck his hands in his pockets. It compromised his fight readiness, but it hid his clenched fists; a fair trade right now.

"It doesn't hurt him in the long term to be reminded you're in charge. Wolves feel more secure when they have a clear leader--"

Oh, not this tired old saw. He didn't mouth the rest of it with Segura, but it was an effort.

"--and if you don't lead he will."

"Are you saying his attitude problems are because I--"

The only reason he didn't punch Segura right in the throat was that his hands were stuck in his pockets and took half a second to yank free, and by then he'd realized, heart hammering, that the man wasn't trying to break his neck -- that the hand closed on the back of Duo's neck had only given him a shake.

It wasn't even closed _that_ tight, and his braid was in the way. He could get free no problem. _Killer, no_ , he said, unable to make himself turn around and check on his brother.

Killer growled, first dash slowing into a determined amble; Bazooka moved to cut his path to her brother, ears flipped back. She sent him a clear pulse of _my space_ , of _step-in-and-I-bite_.

Jesus. _I'm not in danger,_ he sent forcefully, _stay back_. If Killer fought Bazooka seriously --

"He's not going to," Segura said, calm and patient voice, calm and patient _everything_ , instructor to his fingertips. "I'm projecting intent. He knows what's going on."

Head bowed a little by his grip, Duo looked back at his face, unwilling, though he'd never taken his attention off him entirely.

"I could have broken your arm," Duo said, because apparently the guy needed it spelled out.

"You really don't have a high opinion of either your or Killer's restraint, do you?" _And everyone wonders why he's on such a hair trigger. (I don't.)_

Hot shame curled in Duo's stomach, burned on his face. He was acutely aware that Heero and Trowa had stopped by the building's front door to wait for them, that Mary had whirled around with the (attack) grab, that Heero wasn't even pretending not to be watching, that Trowa -- even worse -- _was_ , politely.

_Support needed?_

Duo closed his eyes. _Nah, thanks, Heero, I'm good._

"Are you listening to me now?" Segura asked, quiet, full of authority. Killer hesitated -- wanted to nip at Bazooka's muzzle, get her out of the way so he could shoulder them apart, but --

 _Yes, it's weird when I outrank you but he outranks her,_ Segura sent him, so neat and clear that nothing else came through, no emotions, not a dozen sub-thoughts to fuzz the edges, just crisp words. _But **you** outrank **him** , Maxwell Killersbrother. And half the time neither of you seems to remember that._

Ears burning, Duo forced himself to meet Segura's eyes, to nod, yeah, okay, I hear you. You're right. Maybe.

Sighing, Segura let his hand drop.

 _Horse-lathering-and-leather says, bring the cub_ , a wolf said -- Bazooka, he thought, because who else, and because she was looking up at her bondmate. Duo cringed. Looked like he was going to get to see Rosca and Fohla earlier than planned. Awesome. The only missing thing from his day.

"Aren't I supposed to see Une?"

Segura started for the door. "They're together," he told Duo absently, and twitched his chin at Trowa to get moving.

Killer pressed against Duo's hip when they walked in last, hurt forgotten in favor of worry and confused suspicion. Duo rested a hand on his withers all the way to the elevator.

They had to break into pairs to ride up; Coyote hung back, letting the bitches pass him. When the doors closed Duo stared at Trowa for a second and then went, "Okay, I'm taking the stairs, coming?" because damned if he had to stand around in awkward silence around any more people today.

Trowa sighed long and obvious, a faint, indulgent smile on his face, like Duo was being a weirdo but that was expected. "Only one floor, Coyote is still limping."

Duo winced. "Oh, right. Never mind then." He patted Coyote's head as the wolf looked up at him. He wasn't holding his leg off the floor, but he wasn't putting his full weight on it either.

"He can deal with light exercise, but it's your itchy legs."

"... Nah."

Silence. Bleah. Trowa crossed his arms casually and leaned a shoulder against the wall to wait. Duo imitated him, less casual and more defensive. He supposed he could just not say anything at all, he didn't have to discuss what had just happened, but it made his nerves raw. Topic, topic...

"... So. Heero."

"Hm?"

"Why's he here, in the end? Did he tell you anything?"

Trowa huffed out a silent, breathy laugh, lips barely quirking. "That he was here to get into Preventers."

"Oh, come _on_!" Duo pushed away from the wall, hands thrown in the air. "This is Heero Yuy we're talking about! The quintessential lone wolf, mister The Government Failed Imma Take It Into My Own Hands, mister Hey The War's Over Might As Well Disappear Into The Void! Joining an official organization?!"

"Mmh."

Duo narrowed his eyes at a placid, unmovable Trowa, and then gave up with a heavy sigh and slumped against the wall. "C'mon. There's no way there's no trick. What did he say?"

"I'm coming in to work with you tomorrow."

Duo blinked at the other man for a second before he realized Trowa was quoting, and then he groaned. "That's _it_?"

Trowa and Coyote inclined their heads and shifted to face him. Duo's brow quirked in confusion at that double-barreled look.

"Duo..."

Uh. "Yeah?"

"Elevator's here."

"Oh my god, I hate you so much."

Coyote lolled his tongue at him. Duo said not a damn thing when Killer decided to start chewing on his ear.

The trip upstairs passed in silence, though at least now Duo felt somewhat less awkward. It'd probably change again the second he had to look Heero in the eye...

Which wasn't going to be any time soon, because when they walked into Une's office they found her standing behind her desk, watching tense and quiet as Mary and Folha stared each other down.

Duo took in the room in a glance from the door. The two she-wolves were still, heads pointed forward, tails held in a straight line with their backs, or maybe a little above it, even. Mary's ruff looked a little bristly. Segura and Bazooka hunkered off to the side, Bazooka giving anxious looks back and forth.

Folha still looked like a stiff breeze would topple her over. With Mary's solid body as a foil she seemed even frailer, ribs almost apparent under the thinning, grizzled coat.

Duo barely had time to worry for her before her mind touched his.

It was so much more than a scent, it was... The flavor of her mind, the weight of her experience, the piercing strength of her will. The lather of a tired horse and its well-used tack permeated it all, but it was such a small part of it.

She filled the room with her self. It wasn't to the overwhelming point where she filled his head as well, where she left him wobbly-legged and unsure where his limbs were like that first time, but it was...

_Shh, quiet. Safe._

Only then Mary's own presence swelled like a wave -- the threads of scents in her name so much stronger, until he could identify the flavors of ice cream in that truck and melting on hot pavement, the brands of motorbikes trailing gas exhaust, almost the breeds of dogs that had marked those posts.

She touched Killer and asked him -- something without words.  Something like "allies?" and something like "mine?"

 _Of course,_ was Killer's first reaction, a flash of thought, immediate. _But Folha_ , Duo thought back, and Killer hesitated. Of course Mary, but why would they fight against Folha? She'd licked their heads.

He threw a quick assessing glance at the room. Coyote was hunkering down on the floor, slowly inching up at Mary's flank, unhappy but unhesitating. Trowa's face was empty, body stuck on factory default settings, but behind that he was thinking _shit, shit, **shit**_ and under that, deeper, _of course Heero/Mary, but, can't, shit_. Fainter, farther away, there were Segura and Bazooka, Bazooka with her ears flat on her neck and ready to back Folha, trying to reach through to more of their pack though Segura tried to block her cold, _no they're all going to be rushing here/blood frenzy/can't have that_.

Of Heero there was not a trace. He stood there at his wolf's side and his eyes were lowered onto Folha, almost pensive, and there was no trace of him in the pack mind that Duo could get at.

"Hey, Mary," Duo said, and cleared his throat because it was dry. "Mary, good girl," he said, and thought _you can't--_ , and lost his train of thought, lost all thoughts for a brief instant.

The two queen wolves didn't jump on each other physically, but their psychic presences swelled and crashed onto each other like two tsunamis.

Duo realized once he could breathe again that his hand was fisted in Killer's ruff, that his knees were locked, that Segura had gone down on one knee.

Mary's presence receded faster, farther, and then it was only Folha.

 _Bumbling puppy_ , she thought, _steps on her pack._ At a nudge from her brother Duo felt her stretch out again, casually, reach out to wolves Duo wasn't even sure he'd ever met that he was getting echoes of presence from, _all is good, danger/fight is over, good cub, stay_.

Mary sat on her rump and watched her with her big yellow head tilted a little. Folha's attention returned to the room with a blink of both her eyes, turned so that both the blind one and the sighted were aimed at Mary.

With a little sigh, Mary got back on her feet. She stepped forward, leaving Heero and Coyote behind, and very politely licked Folha's white chin.

 _For now_ , was the sense Duo got. He groaned. "Aw, no, honey, you're still gonna fight her?"

Mary blinked up at him. Her eyes were a dark, cool brown.

 _Yes? Cubs first_ , she told him. _Then fighting._

Duo spluttered. "What the f -- _cubs?!_ "

Heero's shoulders tightened. Duo fell silent, mouth open, staring at the back of his head.

"With that sorted out, gentlemen...?"

Une was almost in front of him. Duo still borderline jumped at being reminded that there was someone in the room who wasn't -- and wasn't supposed to have been -- in the pack mind.

She nodded to Rosca, who nodded back, and he and Folha walked sedately to the door. Duo sidestepped hurriedly to let them through. Rosca sketched a salute as he passed the door, eyes briefly glinting at Duo as he turned -- _you won't get out of hanging out at the bar with me so easily, young man!_ \-- and then they were gone.

Trowa exhaled slowly through his nose, and pushed the door closed. Coyote shook himself, went to nose at Mary's throat and jaw. Killer still looked flabbergasted -- kinda like Duo himself, actually.

"Was it necessary to introduce them so early?" Trowa asked, proper and bland enough that Duo could tell he was a bit angry underneath, for not having been told.

 _Coyote would have known, and then Mary would have known,_ Segura told him, patting at his sister's flank without looking up. _Couldn't know too early -- get there spoiling for a fight._

"Was it necessary to introduce them in small committee, in a restricted area where the rest of the pack couldn't rush in to chase off the intruder, or spark another dozen side-fights from all that excitement?" Une said pointedly.

Duo winced thinking of Killer let loose in a generalized brawl. There'd be dead wolves at the end of the day, no ifs, ands, or buts.

From the way Segura patted his sister's flank, Duo could tell he was aware that Bazooka -- brave, dependable Bazooka, pack enforcer, responsible beta -- would have been one of the first casualties.

Une wasn't done. "Before Yuysister here invaded any more of Folha's territory and tempted away any more of her packmates? Folha's body might be too old to act rashly anymore, but she's still a queen wolf. I've been told she has the temper."

A pause, and then her eyes turned to Heero, her tone gentled.

"One of them probably _will_ die."

He made a little noise of weary assent, his shoulders still too stiff. Duo's hands twitched, clenched.

"I know."

 _Won't be me,_ Mary said with unthinking confidence. _Strong-young-ready._ She looked up at her human. _But later,_ she finished reassuringly _._

Duo wasn't too sure Heero was reassured, though who knew with him, but Duo himself sure as hell wasn't.

"Barton," Une said. "You're not exactly needed for the discussion. Yuy, Maxwell?"

Duo blinked. Oh hell, still a discussion to get through? Hadn't the Folha thing been enough? He sneaked Trowa a look. If he was going to be humiliated again he wasn't sure he wanted him there, but then again he'd want Heero here even less and it didn't look like the guy was budging. So.

"It'll save us having to tell him later on," Heero replied before Duo could make up his mind. With a sigh, Duo stepped forward to be side by side with Heero and nodded.

Heero was still staring ahead and not meeting his eyes or even acknowledging him much, which was really starting to chafe. Was he ashamed of knowing Duo or what? It was starting to borderline feel like it.

"Good. Sit down. Agent Segura, if you'll wait outside for a minute?"

Segura and Bazooka left. Duo dragged a chair closer. The wolves had already lost all tension; Mary was trying to bully Killer away from the water bowl. Duo was a little baffled waiting to see if she'd succeed; at the moment Killer was still stubbornly licking away at he water even as she put her shoulder to him and heaved. Coyote was watching, tail wagging lazily away.

Heero sat beside him, and Trowa a little back to the side, and then Duo was _done_ making himself sick with waiting. "Okay, so what the hell is even going on? Heero? Cubs? What?"

He turned in his chair to stare accusingly. Heero's bushy eyebrows went down in a frown, but then his eyes slid away again and that was so wrong Duo felt thrown, rattled.

Une sighed. "Should I explain--"

"No," Heero said, curt and steely, and the muscles in his jaw shifted. He looked at Duo then, and at Trowa over his shoulder before he went back to Duo. "Mary wants a litter and a pack."

"Oh." Duo blinked. "Guess it's hard to have the first without the second."

Huh.

"So you're -- hey, that's why I'm here too! Okay, not the puppies but Killer was _miserable_ without a pack. Only he didn't notice, cause he didn't know better, but yeah." He dared a smile. "I guess the missions won't hurt either, when I finally get to go."

Heero stared at his face as if he was trying to read his mind -- which he could have, but Duo didn't feel him reaching with the pack mind. He still felt oddly distant, isolated. Duo wondered if he'd had special training to resist wolf brain-fuckery. Why not; seemed like he'd had training for everything else. After that waking-up-while-keeping-the-EEG-readings-to-say-unconscious stunt, Duo wouldn't be too surprised.

Duo wasn't sure what Heero found on his face, but he sighed minutely and his shoulders -- relaxed or slumped, Duo couldn't tell which -- and he turned back to Une.

"Yes," she said. "About that."

Oh hell, no. Duo didn't know what she was about to say and he already knew he was going to fucking hate it.

"Duo," she said, startling him with the use of his first name. "It'll be best if you repeat the training course."

Duo started swearing.

"Huh, I'd never heard that one," Trowa said a minute or so later. Duo growled at him.

"It's Sweepers slang."

"Hm. Nice."

Blurgh. And now his anger was deflating like a soufflé. "I know we haven't been doing awesome," he tried, "but--"

"It's not a punishment, Maxwell." Une sighed at him, leaned forward to prop an elbow on her desk. "You might succeed alone if we let you try harder, yes, that's true. You might not. That was _always_ a possibility."

Not one Duo had ever taken seriously! Duo Maxwell Killersbrother didn't _fail_ at things, damn it.

"But Yuy will need -- will appreciate support. And I'm assured it'll go smoother for the both of you for reasons of pack dynamics; you're free to ask Agent Rosca or Agent Segura about it later, but the gist of it seems to be that both Mary and Killer will feel more secure with an ally right there and will not end up fighting quite so much."

"Seems more likely to end up as a pack within the pack," Duo grumped, arms crossed over his chest.

Une narrowed her eyes at him, half seriously. "Right now Killer is pretty much a one-man pack as it is, so what will change, really?"

"Our graduation date!"

"I'll manage," Heero said to Une suddenly. "Don't hold him back on my behalf."

... Fucking shit, now Duo felt like a heel for abandoning him. Poor guy probably hadn't been part of any more packs than Duo had been, and he didn't even have the benefit of _human_ socialization to even start to compensate. He slumped in his chair. "Aaaugh. Okay! Fine! Twist my arm, why don't you. Okay, we'll repeat a year!"

Trowa coughed discreetly. "Training lasts two months, not twelve."

"Sure doesn't feel like it," Duo muttered under his breath. Trowa snorted at him.

Heero didn't do anything. Didn't snort -- Duo knew he had a sense of humor, as rudimentary as it was -- and didn't frown and didn't...

 _Thanks_ wisped through his mind, barely there; Duo could almost have imagined it. _Sorry_.

Oh.

 _I don't mind._ He bit at the corner of his lip. _Sorry for ranting. I was just venting._

Heero's hiking boot scuffed the floor as he shifted his legs; apart from that he didn't move. "Mnh."

"Uh huh," Duo agreed. Trowa blew air out of his nose like he was laughing at them.

"Very good," Une said, repressing a smile. What the hell was she even smiling at, the witch. "You won't have to quit right away, at any rate; Heero and Mary will join the current training class until the end of the session, and then the four of you will join the next. You'll be able to free up more time to deal with things. It'll make the process smoother."

Duo sighed and oozed a bit farther down in his seat. "We said yes already, no need to keep talking it up." Urgh. Lack of professionalism. He straightened up. "Sorry. But, yeah, if that was all?"

"Agent Segura will explain all the organizational details to you," Une said, and nodded. "Dismissed."

Duo was the first one out of her office, but Heero wasn't far behind at all.


	8. Chapter 8

Duo swore Heero would have kept him awake _less_ if he'd been tossing and turning.

Mary had retired to her little wolf cave on the ground floor of the Yuy bunk bed a while ago, and was dead asleep as far as Duo could tell. Meanwhile, her person was lying absolutely still one level up, stretched out on his back, a hand tucked under his pillow for the hidden gun. Staring at the ceiling.

Okay, not really, his eyes were closed. Might as well have been staring, though. Duo didn't know if it was because almost everyone else was asleep and therefore quiet, but...

The awareness of _too many breaths in the room_ he felt was a little too sharp to be his. He'd been here for almost four weeks now, after all, and it wasn't like he'd never slept in dorms before, doing his training on cramped, overcrowded Sweeper ship after Sweeper ship. Half the time he had his choice of hammock or Killer's flank to sleep on, and the hammocks vibrated every time someone opened a door or walked by...

Sigh.

Killer was currently stretched out on the floor toward the foot of Duo's own bunk, between the bunk and the wall. He was asleep, but lightly so, ears flicking here and there. Duo counted his wolf's breaths up to a hundred, and shifted onto his side, leaning on his elbow.

"Do you wanna trade?"

Heero's head pivoted like he was an eagle who'd heard a mouse complaining of being too deliciously fat and slow to run. Duo pinched his lips together to keep from smiling, in case Heero took it badly.

"Bunks," he said patiently. "Do you want the wall? You're the one who was traveling today."

Heero gave him a glare that Duo privately titled 'I'm actually confused but Heero Yuy doesn't do confused so I'm gonna be annoyed instead.'

"You'll be waking up other people soon, buddy. Just saying."

People, or their wolves. Before Mary hid away in her private cave to sleep she'd been... Duo wasn't sure why, possibly the queen wolf thing, but she was hugely interesting to just about all the other wolves, who just _had_ to bow to her and lick her chin and all those things.

Which she oddly enough seemed to take in stride! The issue had come mostly from the fact that their humans seemed just as interested in engaging Heero in conversation.

_"So where are you from?"_

_"How long have you and Mary been bonded?"_

_"Gundam pilot, huh? What have you been doing since the war?"_

_"If you want, we can tour the buildings tomorrow, show you around, yeah?"_

Heero was alright at faking polite by-rote small talk, but Duo couldn't have missed the twitch of relief in the pack sense when it was time to turn off the lights.

There was an unexpected flash of someone else's sense-memory -- starched-stiff button-up shirt, neck tight ( _cravat? That's as good as a **garrote**_ ) and a pack of school students crowding all around him. Soft civilians, which meant fighting his way out would be inappropriate, but it _itched_.

 _Yeah, it's less stressful when your wolfsib is right there with you, huh,_ Duo sent, aiming carefully. _Started going solo when I was nine, but it never not sucked._

Heero snorted, a quiet puff of breath in the darkened room. He was thinking about how, comparatively, being mobbed by harmless teenage civilians had somehow been worse than by adults carrying weapons.

Duo got that, though. People who'd received combat training started thinking and acting along the same lines they did. Sheltered teenagers might as well have been aliens.

 _You're twisted,_ Duo teased, and rolled straight over his guardrail to land in a silent crouch between their bunks. Mary's fur rustled against the wooden wall in the absolute black of her little cave as she shifted at his scent. "Hey, Mary, go sleep in Killer's bunk, okay? It's not like he's using it."

"Duo--"

Heero's mouth clamped closed, and he glared some more, sitting up halfway on his bunk to scowl down at Duo better. Duo put his hands on his hips and gave him his best shit-eating grin.

Mary lumbered out of the bunk and feathered a half-awake _mnh-yes-want-the-safer-den_ down their spines. Heero's hand fisted in the sheets.

 _Tracking-flanking wolf will guard us_ , she replied sleepily, checking in with Duo with an inquisitive mental poke. It wasn't even making sure that was what he was offering, more like... Duo wasn't too sure.

 _Bossy_ , he thought at her, and nudged her blond ass with his knee. She yawned all teeth out and trudged on.

Duo stepped closer to the bunk, put a daring hand on the ladder. "Trade you tomorrow," he whispered up at Heero. _Now go before we do wake up people!_

He almost expected Heero to get stubborn, but Heero must have known that going into tomorrow on zero sleep wouldn't be half as smart as going on a mission that way. They could all defuse bombs and field-strip weapons borderline in their sleep; socializing, now, not so much.

And everyone was expecting Heero to show up at the bar after work, Rosca Folhasbrother included.

_... Fine._

Heero slipped down the ladder, paused to stare at him -- grunted, and went around the foot of Duo's bed for _his_ ladder. Shrugging, Duo climbed his way up to Heero's empty bunk.

Lying down under Heero's still-warm blankets would be a little weird, and anyway he was keeping watch, he didn't need to be comfortable, he might fall asleep. He sat up against the wall, tucked in the corner to have a good view of the dorm room.

"Wake me up at four," Heero ordered in a whisper as he appeared on top of Duo's ladder. _Half asleep on your feet-I deal with them alone-mission failure._

Duo snickered, and made an okay sign. Heero lay down on his mattress. Even out of sight, Duo knew that Mary had snuffled at Killer's fur, that he'd woken up to nose at her chin and let her through before setting his head on his paws again. He was watching the room now, they both were, two slightly different angles of view. Killer's eyes were a bit better in low light, but it was nice to have a higher view too...

Mary was already falling back asleep. It was cozy and warm and smelled just like the dens where _cordite and nitroglycerin and blood_ had told her _Protect the giant metal important thing I must go alone to the human pack_. Killer had been there, too, with his own giant important thing...

She still remembered Killer's rough-furred flank under her as she napped on top of him. He'd been so much bigger. A giant wolf. Duo chuckled under his breath. For her it wasn't her who had grown, it was Killer who had shrunk.

He felt a... twitch, something flinching back from that thought, so quiet, a mouse skittering in the dark of the bond.

_Heero?_

No answer. Heero kept breathing quiet and slow, sounding perfectly asleep.

Yeah, he could make his goddamn _brainwaves_ say he was asleep too, and that didn't mean he was.

Duo concentrated on the familiar smells of pungent gunpowder and hot blood spreading in a puddle on the ground, on the way they mingled. Heero's scent-name contained other things in the background -- mostly sweat, tinged with nuances he couldn't decipher, not being a wolf -- but he remembered it well enough even if he couldn't crack it all the way down.

_What's wrong? doubt it'd be about Killer shrinking (too silly to actually be a concern) did you not want her to grow up or ...? (okay she was cute all long-legged teenpuppy but)_

Heero sighed through his nose. _No/yes/maybe_.

Duo gave a blink in the dark, though he didn't turn away from the rest of the room.

 _Growing up is good/natural,_ Heero sent him, firm and clear, and Duo could almost have missed the involuntary _(but...)_ that ran underneath it.

Biting his lips in thoughtful concentration, he sent no words, only a feeling of disbelief.

_(Annoyance!) I knew from the start. (Doctor J sitting me down now if you have decided to stay together there are things you must know about wolves my boy.)_

"I don't get it," Duo admitted after a few long seconds of waiting for more and being forced to realize that Heero didn't intend to add anything else.

He received a brief pulse of _faces all around him (targets/victims) (danger)_ , smiles and too much interest.

Wow. So it was that bad for him, huh. Wooow.

 _I'll run interference,_ he promised -- lightly, confidently. He and Quatre had been the sociable ones back in the day. Easy. It was just sensible repartition of tasks, really!

_Can't._

Duo frowned. "Why not?"

"Mary's heat," Heero said with his voice, mind gone in stealth mode once again, which Duo was vaguely miffed about because damn it, stealth was _his_ shtick.

"Hmm?"

"They believe I might influence Mary's choice," Heero said, bland.

Um. "What, so they're courting you by proxy?" Duo's eyes widened a little. He tried not to laugh -- it was more disbelief than amusement, but -- wow, ridiculous. Did they want to get their wolves laid so badly? Okay, Duo had heard a lot of jokes and rumors about sex between wolfbrothers being some kinky mind-meld shit, but he'd heard a lot of ridiculous misinformed bullshit, some of which he knew for a fact was false as false can be.

Heero was still locked up like a fortress. Which was strange as hell because now Duo was realizing how much he hadn't been before this.

He turned onto his side, his back to Duo, grunted a "Sleep," and stopped moving entirely. Sighing, Duo gave up on the conversation.

It was too late at night for it, anyway -- not a good topic for wolf telepathy, and whispers in the dark would wake people up soonish, if they hadn't already.

Yeah, but tomorrow: research. Because the more he thought about it, the more he thought that nothing that bugged Heero so badly could be innocuous.

He settled against the wall and resumed keeping watch on the full bunks, and the pile of sleeping wolves in the middle of the room.

\--

At breakfast they avoided the crunch by the simple expedient of going at six thirty, which meant Duo had two and a half hours of sleep under his belt and was pretty much walking on autopilot, letting Killer drive him.

"Are your eyes actually closed?" Makisig asked through a yawn as he trudged along on Killer's other side, wolfless ( _gotta get silly-lost human back to his cub_ , was Killer's determined opinion.)

Duo grunted. "What'd they look like?"

"Closed."

"Mm."

The face Makisig was making was pretty funny, he thought back at Heero, because Heero's eyes were open of course and he didn't yet trust the guy which meant he kept stealing glances. _Seriously, the guy is as much of a puppy as his brother, relax, man_.

_Hole in the ground! Make a big step._

Duo made a big step. Yawn.

"You've never used your wolf's senses?" Heero asked, a bit brusque, to Makisig.

"--Um. No? I mean. He shares, but. Not deliberately? Not so much that I could go without mine, anyway."

 _Tumbling cubs who haven't figured out their paws_ , Mary pulsed over the four of them, and under that a sense of intrigued tenderness, of want.

"Did she just -- hah. Heh. I guess we _are_ pretty new at this!"

Mary and Killer snorted in tandem. Duo chuckled indulgently, felt to the side blindly to pat his wolf brother's head. He kept his eyes closed deliberately, because it was a bit fun; the conversation was, alas, starting to wake him up in full.

"Um, you know I'm actually older than you, right? Like, at least three years. You're eighteen, yeah?"

"Yeah, and if we combine ages with our wolves I'm twenty-six and you're... well, still twenty-one."

"Oh, shut up," Makisig said good-naturedly. "Though... Hey... Yuy, how old would you be?"

 _What's the point of this conversation,_ Heero flashed at Duo, in a perplexed, vaguely suspicious way.

_Social bonding by way of sharing inconsequential personal history to promote a feeling (unwarranted or not doesn't matter) of understanding and closeness! Be nice to the pup, Yuy._

"Twenty-three."

"Are you guys the same age?"

"Yes." _Probably. Estimated birth date?_

_Not a clue! I got it narrowed down to a year -- haha, yeah, same, close enough for government work._

"Anyway, Chiquito does share smells, but I haven't really noticed any... sounds, or sights, or..."

"Yeah, sharing smells they do pretty early on, on account of we poor humans don't have any nose and it's a travesty that we can't smell that dead roadkill in all its glory. Man, all the rats Killer found for me--"

 _No rats here_ , Killer shared sadly. _The wolves got them all. Pigeons?_

"--Anyway, it'll happen, and it's fun to practice."

"Also useful if you or your wolf gets too close to a flash grenade or an explosion," Heero said and frowned. "It should be part of the curriculum."

"I think it is," Duo reassured him. "They've got seminars and stuff, I'm sure it's in there somewhere. Also neat when you can get some parallax going with your wolf, you know, you can pinpoint things down to the inch, it's pretty cool."

Killer shared, unselfconscious, the last time he and Duo had known things straight from Heero and Mary. Eight eyes and ears and four times the knowledge and ideas, the terrain in glorious detail and the plan so smooth and oiled--

Duo opened his eyes. "We're here," he said, maybe a bit abruptly, and pushed the door of the cafeteria open. "Sweet ambrosia, here I come!"

They shed Makisig on the way to the counter -- he'd seen a friend in what was effectively the wolfless side of the room. Mary detached from Heero's side instantly, started trotting along the walls, zigzagging under the tables wherever needed. Heero didn't seem interested; Duo could almost feel that mask of 'person unconcerned by silly excited dog antics' in his mind, could see it in the set of his shoulders, the body language. Mary was actually casing the joint, pinging Heero with every window and aeration grate she came across, the location of the emergency doors and whether they smelled like electricity or explosive or some other kind of trap (they did not.)

Killer stayed by Duo, sitting next to him as they waited in the very short line, but his muzzle pointed to her as reliably as a compass pointing north. _Interesting!_ he told Duo. _Wolf smells! People smells! Gun smells! Chemical smells! Fries with **ketchup**._

_Ketchup is bad for you._

_Ketchup is bad for **you** , _Killer retorted, with the clear undertone that if he didn't get to have any then neither did Duo.

 _That's healthier for both of you,_ Heero interjected, and they both turned to glare narrow-eyed at him.

"... Your turn," Heero said, one eyebrow up a quarter of an inch, and Duo turned around and went to the counter with a huff.

Mary found a door that went to the kitchen while he was busy loading up his platter, and Duo laughed to himself right in front of the cook. Thankfully she was used to worse. _The lock needs hands, sorry._

 _Dig through the wall?_ Killer suggested, and they thought of raw paw-pads and claws used to th quick, but maybe if they managed to rip the edge of the frame out with their claws then they could bite into it and tear it out of the wall! Hmm. Worth a try.

It was hilarious and well worth the loss of sleep and when Duo stopped to think about how easy it was to sit with Heero like he'd always been around, like he had _stayed_ , after the war, it felt weird again, as if another countdown had started and a coup was coming on.

 _No secret mission,_ Heero told him, floating quiet and a little -- repressed, depressed, something like that.

 _If there had been I don't think I would even have minded,_ Duo thought back, and then buried exactly how true it was.

There was peace now. He was here to learn how to deal with that.

 _I wouldn't have minded either,_ Heero thought, but almost to himself, ( _so much better than the actual--_ ) and then he went stealth again and stayed that way until the middle of the morning.

\--

At lunch Wufei dropped by to drive Heero to a vet that specialized in bitches. Killer nosed firmly at Glenfiddich and nipped his ear and Wufei snorted at Duo and promised he wouldn't lose Yuy at the mall and drive off without him, which was patently unfair and totally out of the blue besides.

Alone for lunch, they returned to the cafeteria.

It was busy at this hour and all the people Duo and Killer knew... well, none of them were Trowa, and he'd seen enough of the trainees for now. There was a space free at their table, and he saw Wangai bite her lip and then tilt her head in invitation, but he smiled and pointed half at random to Agent Dagher and her bitch wolf Sekhmet, who he had met that first day and not really talked with since.

Then he got himself a tray and followed his implicit promise.

"Hey there. This seat taken?"

Dagher shrugged, moved her folders; Sekhmet sniffed briefly at Killer's nose and then ignored him utterly. Duo put Killer's bowl in the stand beside him -- half the seats came with so the wolves wouldn't develop arthritis of the neck in their old age (luxury!) -- and then sat.

"Good morning. Where's your other half?"

"... Killer is under the table," Duo said, misunderstanding her quite deliberately. She sent him a thin smirk. "And Yuy is at the vet. Why is everyone so interested in him, anyway?"

"Not him so much as the wolf," Dagher said, and shrugged elegantly. "You've been missing out on some major ripples."

"Urgh." Duo frowned, attacked his salad with annoyance. (Why had he picked up a salad? Oh yeah, he'd promised Hilde. Fresh vegetables were good for you! Only he wasn't used to them and they felt gross on his tongue a bit. Well, mostly the lettuce. And spinach. And...) "I don't get why, it's not like they _want_ to be the center of everything."

Dagher shook her head, said nothing.

Duo had come to sit with her for a reason, though. It was because the first day they met she'd tried to explain, neat and incisive and to the point. She knew how much background he was missing and she didn't bother with the 'oh my god you poor deprived plebe that can't be right' routine.

"So _why_ are they?" he said.

Dagher made a noncommittal sound. "Reason one, pure mechanics -- a queen wolf has the kind of mental voice that fills a room when it speaks up. It's like ignoring the leading lady in an opera. Reason two, willpower. Wolves never feel so safe and confident than they do under a solid leader. A queen wolf is that."

"Huh." He considered it. "Can you have one without the other? The mental power without the self-confidence?"

"Sure, but a wolf who's shy won't dare to push as loud, anyway, so they rein themselves in. Queens grow up with it, though, so they get used to being the center of attention. It's all pretty entangled."

"Like tall strong guys and guys who play basketball."

"Mm." She took a bite. "Plus there's the hot monkey sex."

Duo did not do a spit-take, because he knew she was mildly evil and when someone evil looked so bland and uninterested it meant something was coming. He still swallowed weird, and had to tap his chest with his fist to get the tomato slice down the proper tube before he could inhale it.

" _What_."

Dagher was laughing at him with her eyes. "You did notice there's about one bitch wolf for five dog wolves, right?"

"Um, yes." No. What, really? Oh _hell_. Yeah.

Well. Okay.

"This is such a conveniently coincidental slide toward the topic I was about to ask you about. I'd almost suspect you of telepathy."

 _Telepathy?_ she sent him, face impassible, black eyes heavily lidded. _No such thing._

He laughed, couldn't help it. It was weird as hell, because he couldn't even feel her at the edge of his awareness.

But apparently she could feel him.

"Trained police detective," Dagher pointed out. "You realize you only looked at people with bitch wolves before you sat with me?"

"I know you, and I don't know any of them," Duo protested. "Apart from the trainees, but getting Shark and Killer to hang out together with a bowl of food between them is... Yeah, I'll pass."

Which sucked because Wangai was pretty cool, and he'd never get to know the rest of the group if he _couldn't_ _approach them,_ either.

"Ask your question and let me eat in peace," Dagher said, rolling her eyes.

Urgh. Uuuurgh. "Okay. I don't actually know where to start. I tried to look it up online and it's such a mess of bullshit and rumors. I just..."

He hesitated, frowned. Heero would not want Duo to bring his personal problems to a stranger. But how else... It wasn't like he could ask _Heero_.

"How does it go, really? Wolf breeding."

Sekhmet lifted her narrow head off the tiles to stare at him in pure, golden-eyed disbelief.

"Because when _I_ had sex, Killer never gave a shit! Well, he'd -- he'd whine and maybe sulk a bit, but it wasn't..." Duo paused for a breath, frowned. "Why'd--"

Why'd Heero act like -- why did he keep dodging the thought of it, why...

Dagher muttered something in Arabic that featured Allah's name prominently, several times in a row. Duo scowled at her.

"Okay, your trainers should be set on fire. Any of them have a wolf?"

"... Um, no." Most of them had been spacers, never touching land, and the rest were scientists. He tried to imagine Professor G with a wolf that wouldn't die of hunger, forgotten under his desk, or crushed to death by a crane installing a gundanium plate. Yeah, nah. Howard, now, he could see it better, but where would the man had met any...?

"Okay." She sighed, pinched her elegant nose. "Wolves can have recreational sex, or even, you know, lick themselves, they just rarely see a point. Pretty much functionally asexual out of season, I guess. When it happens it's like human sex -- distracting, physically, but that's it, the other bondmate doesn't have to get involved in it."

She paused to stare at him, voice dropping low, not a whisper but not far from it either. Duo was suddenly uncomfortably aware of the number of people surrounding them, of how many of them came with radar ears.

"When it's a heat, they need to fuck, they need you to fuck, basically everyone needs to fuck. Reason goes out the window. Training needs to be pretty ingrained not to follow. And you're dragged along for the ride, because they need it and you're pack and the pack needs to grow and it's right and good and proper and why would there be any distance between you?"

Duo could only stare at her.

Dagher planted her fork in her steak decisively, frowning.

"So Heero--"

"Your friend is going to get fucked by the brothers and sisters of every dog wolf his sister accepts, which might be one, might be none, might be ten, she won't be noticing little things like that by then. She'll just know whether she wants the dogs or not."

Duo opened his mouth, almost said something about how she must be wrong and it didn't -- _couldn't_ \-- have to be like that, and Sekhmet looked up at him, all golden and sleek and very much a bitch.

"You, uh."

"There's heat suppressants, but every male in the Preventers already knows she's coming off them."

"Heero said she wanted a litter," Duo told her dazedly.

Heero had said...

People pressing around him, too close, looking at him, touching him. Friendly and smiling and him burning with the need to escape.

They weren't even approaching him with lust yet, just with friendliness.

Jesus.

Jesus. This was going to be a disaster. Unless Heero got dragged under by Mary's heat and forgot to fight them off, but how likely was that? With his training and his -- his Heero-ness, that untouchable quality, that...

People touching him. Strangers.

Did Trowa and Wufei know? Did they. _Fuck_.

What were they going to _do_ about this?

\--

In the afternoon they had classroom lessons on procedure. Heero was still out -- registration stuff, Duo thought, but he wasn't sure. The instructor didn't seem concerned, so probably it wasn't that they'd found some problem with Mary at the vet's. Or they hadn't gotten around to telling the instructor that they'd found some problem with Mary at the vet's.

"Dude, pen," Wangai whispered to him from the row before his. Duo guiltily stopped bouncing it.

_Killer, is Mary in range? Can you hear her?_

_Busy,_ Killer replied sleepily, and rolled himself in a ball against Duo's chair.

"Whassamatter?" Wangai said quietly, reclining her chair so the back braced against Duo's desk. Shark was on the other side of the desk from Killer and studiously ignoring him. "You've been jumpy all afternoon."

"Urgh."

He looked at her, her profile as she pretended to pay attention to the teacher, her square hands on the desk, the battle scar on her brow.

She was pretty steady, wasn't she. Well-trained. Strong but secure, didn't think she had anything to prove; cool-headed, but still friendly. And Shark had shown interest in Mary already. Maybe if Duo introduced them first...

Killer lifted his head from the ground and let out a low, rolling growl, staring right through the mess of chairs and desk legs. Shark twitched, stared right back, lip curling up, ruff prickling.

"--Oh, Jesus. Killer, _down_. What's gotten into you?"

He got no response save for a wave of hostility. Argh. _Shark wasn't even doing anything!_

Nope, still growling. At least Killer _was_ growling? Instead of just... Yeah, not a great silver lining. "Sorry, teach," he said with a sigh, and gathered his stuff. "Killer, out."

Wangai watched him go, brows knit in either suspicion or worry. He gave her an apologetic shrug and herded his wolf out through the door at the back of the room with a knee to his furry ass before any of the others got involved; there were already too many muzzles lifted and ears pointed their way.

Maybe it wasn't so bad that he'd be repeating the course. Urgh.

He stretched out with the bond, cautious, felt -- oh, that was Chiquito, not very loud yet but excitable enough that it dragged the mind closer. Okay, hello cub, but it wasn't who he wanted to...

 _Who?_ Killer asked as they made their way down the hall.

_Bazooka? And Segura._

Killer filled his nose with Bazooka's orange peels scent, Segura's warm, still-humid laundry, reached out, feeling tentatively -- still better than Duo -- toward...

_What is it?_

Oh hey, it had worked. _Got questions, can we see you? We've got until the end of the hour, or after classes I guess._

_Shouldn't you be in -- I see. Okay._ He dropped the map of the building into Duo's head, tagged a room up a level and then two doors to the left.

Duo and Killer went.

It was an office with three desks in it, but only Segura was there at the moment, sitting down with a pile of paperwork. Bazooka sat up; Killer went to bump noses with her and Duo followed, pulling up a chair to sit in front of Segura's desk.

"Next time you might want to tell him to leave the room and wait in the corridor, if he's feeling disruptive," Segura said casually as Killer went to nose around behind the other desks.

Duo blinked. Okay, that wasn't the topic he'd had in mind. Like, at all. "Leave him _alone_? I--"

Segura pursed his lips a bit, though his dark eyes stayed rueful, like he despaired of Duo a bit but in a way that worried him more than it annoyed him. Which was... something, Duo guessed, and tried not to turn red.

"He's much less likely to be hostile if he doesn't have you to protect," Segura said, weighing his words carefully enough that Duo guessed it wasn't what he'd wanted to say first. "... Also, you guys are a bit attached at the hip." He gave a casual shrug.

"Oh." Duo digested that, rubbed the back of his head, made himself smile. "A bit, huh?"

Segura cracked a smile. "A tad. A smidgen. Barely noticeable at all." He sobered up. "It's understandable, with your history, I'm just mentioning it so that you're aware of it. You guys are used to being in each other's pockets twenty-four-seven, but if one of you wanted to do something on his own for once it wouldn't be a catastrophe."

Duo pinged Killer by reflex, but he wasn't even paying attention, and the thought of doing his own thing ... well, do what? While Duo was where? It was too vague and he couldn't judge if he'd like it just from that -- but there was none of the instant, uneasy refusal Duo had expected.

Letting Killer wander off entirely on his own was... Well, they used to do that when they were in L2's streets, but. They'd had the other street kids then. They'd had food to scrounge up and cops to avoid and...

To be frank, back then if Killer had bitten someone Duo wouldn't have cared, because he'd have assumed they deserved it, if only for the idiocy of trying to pet a german-shepherd-sized, dog-looking stray.

"Uuurgh, the more I do this thing, the more I realize I suck at it," Duo grumbled, slumping forward theatrically and dragging a chuckle out of the man.

"Alright, so what did you want to talk about?"

"Um. Actually it's about another of those things I just realized I know nothing about because I never had a reason to."

"Hmm?"

Duo's face prickled. He forced himself to meet Segura's eyes anyway. "About heats."

"Oh?"

"Yeah, I just -- always thought it was exaggeration, but I was talking to Dagher and she said..." He forced the rest out; it came out a bit rough, embarrassed. "That people would fuck regardless. That..."

Segura blinked. Bazooka stretched her paws before her and let out a huge yawn, flopped onto her side. _Lots of silliness_ , was her opinion.

"She's spayed," Segura said dryly. "She was singing another tune back when she wasn't."

 _So why...?_ Duo started to think, and then tried to shove it down, and Segura brought up a blurry, old image of dead puppy and blood, repressed it. Duo came out of that little accidental over-share with the pretty gross words "uterine prolapse" and "hysterectomy" in his head.

Oh god, all the things that could go wrong with Mary's cubs. Duo was aware that he'd paled just a little bit, but. Awgh.

"Wow, okay, that is another good reason not to go through with it, why does anyone ever..."

Yeah, okay, for the cubs. Cubs needed to happen, and hey, people probably enjoyed having them around once they were there. But the heat itself, dear lord, no.

Segura let out little sigh and leaned on an elbow, rubbed his jaw in thought, in faint embarrassment. "Listen, Maxwell... No one thinks you're gay if you end up in bed with another man during a wolf heat. Everyone knows it's just one of those things, it doesn't--"

"That is _so_ not it!" Duo spluttered.

"--Oh. Sorry then."

Sigh. "Okay, so I have this friend -- no, wait, that makes it sound like it's for me. But it's really for a friend."

"Dog or bitch?"

... Siiiigh. "Yeah,okay, it's Heero and Mary. They haven't asked me to come here, I'm just... Dagher told me some things and -- now I'm feeling fretty. It seems pretty... intense?"

Segura nodded a little. "Okay... I don't really want to discuss them, especially without their approval or knowledge, but we can certainly talk about things in general terms. Especially since it's pretty likely that you'll be around the building for a heat at some point and it's also pretty likely that if you are, Killer will want to participate."

"...Okay, that's fair."

"Okay, first thing -- unless the bitch is young and not regular yet, or getting triggered by massive upheavals like the death of an alpha bitch, or accidentally went off her heat suppressants, we _know_ when a heat is coming. You've got time to choose whether to attend or not. Your wolf might grumble a little, but so long as they don't catch the scent or you leave right afterwards, they'll forget about it in half a day."

"Unless they're the bitch in heat."

"The brother of a bitch has... not _as many_ choices, that's true, but there _are_ heat suppressants." Segura's voice gentled. "If Yuy chose to let Mary go off hers after keeping her on them since the war, it was his choice, and probably an informed one."

Duo grunted. "Yeah, if there was information to find, he found it." He just didn't know if Heero had taken it into consideration. The guy had always had a regrettable tendency to consider himself as acceptable collateral damage if something needed doing badly enough back in the day, and Duo didn't know if the two years of peace since then had changed that mindset any.

"If they're nervous there's anxiety medication, but most of the time the bitch's anticipation takes care of that."

Haha, Heero taking drugs to make himself be less on edge. Ha.

"I know from the outside it sounds like a bit much, but there are nurses and a doctor on site, there's a squad of brothers of bitches ready to intervene the second anyone taps out, for any reason at all. Injuries are pretty rare, the worst is usually chafing and mild dehydratation. It's stressful for people who have a hard time going with the flow, but -- Maxwell..." Segura reddened a little, looked away. "It feels _good_. We wouldn't keep bonding if it didn't."

Yeah. The issue there was 'people who have a hard time going with the flow' sounded like Segura-speak for 'control freak.'

And he really didn't want to discuss Heero's issues in depth, anyway.

He didn't know what he'd been hoping for, that Segura would tell him Agent Dagher had been fucking with him or something.

He supposed it was a little reassuring that Segura was a man who'd gone through heat as the brother of a bitch, and he didn't seem to think it was anything traumatic.

"Remind Yuy that he has an exclusion list," Segura said, a bit abrupt. "If there's anyone he doesn't want to attend for any reason at all, they won't be permitted on site. There'll be no questions asked."

Duo thought it might not be useful to exclude _everyone_. Kinda counter-productive, really. And he was starting to sound kind of overprotective even to himself with that one.

He should probably shelve the catastrophic thoughts until he had talked to Heero himself. Good thing they were meeting this evening...

"Okay. Thanks for the talk, sir. I should probably go back to class now."

"Probably," Segura replied with an amused snort. "Get going. You should drop by the infirmary and ask for pamphlets at some point," he added as Duo got up.

Duo made an agreeing noise (ugh, people seeing him request that stuff) and walked out, Killer yawning as he ambled on his heels.

\--

When he tried to step inside the bar that evening Duo collided with Wufei head on.

"Whoa," he said, grabbing for Wufei's upper arm for balance, as Killer whuffed disapprovingly. Wufei cupped his elbow from underneath and finished dragging him upright. He was scowling, but Duo had a feeling he'd been scowling before he stepped out.

_What's wrong/sitrep? (am I late?)_

Wufei huffed through his nose and poked Duo in the shoulder, shoving him back so that Glenfiddich could walk out after him. He stepped to the side, out of sight of the window; Duo followed, eyebrows quirked.

"Interpersonal difficulties," Wufei said dryly as Glen went to sniff a road sign.

"Which means? ... Did you argue with Heero or Tro?"

He was a bit relieved when Wufei blinked at him like the thought hadn't even occurred to him. "No. Some idiot is getting drunk in there and reminiscing about his glory days in White Fang and how much the Treize faction-- 'ch. A bunch of nonsense."

"Uh _huh_."

Wufei shrugged sharply, crossed his arms. "I'd have ignored it but his wolf was starting to crowd Glenfiddich. I'm actually not supposed to allow imbeciles to get their comeuppance," he added, grumbling. _Now he's going to think he's won argh._

Glen lolled his tongue at his brother in what was clearly amusement. _Dumb puppy growling at shoes_ , he shared. Duo snickered.

"Well, obviously Glen doesn't care much. You can't be wiping the floor with every idiot who waltzes your way, Wu-dawg! The janitors will be out of a job. Also if he's that drunk it'd be boring."

"I was thinking unsporting," Wufei retorted, the corner of his mouth starting to lift in an unwilling smile, "but yes, that too."

Duo leaned on the wall beside him and watched Killer sniff at Glen's well-marked post and hike up his leg, determined to piss higher.

"God, I hope they hose down that sign sometimes. Lucky it's not summer."

Wufei snorted, and then pretended he hadn't. "That was juvenile."

"Yeah and who was all 'I'm eighteen not eighty' last time? I'm just providing fresh childishness, bro. See it as age retraining!"

"Eighteen, not _eight_."

"Hey, they both look nubile and sexy to a home-brewed octogenarian -- _ow_." Duo rubbed his shoulder. He bet it would bruise.

"Just because people from L2 are the only ones allowed to make pedophile from L2 jokes doesn't mean they _should_."

"There, there, my little jailbait -- ow, seriously." Wufei had jabbed him in the exact same bruise.

"I will make Glenfiddich piss on you, Maxwell, don't test me."

Duo grinned, and elbowed him back. "What were you saying about maturity again?"

He didn't get to find out what Wufei would have retorted; the bar's door handle twisted, and Mary's yellow shoulder shoved it open. She peered outside, scanning Killer and then Duo and Wufei.

 _Come in_ , she said, _quiet now/stupid one bitten quiet._

Duo pushed away from the wall, ambled to the door. "Yes ma'am. ... Did you really bite him?"

 _... Not with my mouth?_ She demonstrated; a push with her mind sudden enough to feel kind of the way a higher-ranked wolf would nip or pinch in reprimand. Duo almost flinched back.

"Huh, cool, Killer has never done that."

 _Horse-lather does it,_ Mary said carelessly -- like it meant absolutely nothing of interest that she was picking up tricks from the current queen of the pack, no really it didn't -- and then stared imperiously at Killer and Glen and disappeared back inside. Glen caught the door, checked it with his shoulder, and they followed. Duo shrugged at Wufei and went.

They'd managed to get a corner table this time around, toward the back and the door that led to the back garden. Duo flicked his fingers at Trowa, who he hadn't seen yet today, and sat down with his back, once again, to the goddamn room.

"Seen Rosca and Folha yet?"

Heero didn't answer, sipping on something that a quick sniff from Killer proved to be coffee, and not even an Irish one.

"They're having a chat with Mister Hotshot Pride of the Fleet," Trowa said, inclining his head toward the door that led out. Wufei looked briefly vindicated, and then sighed, thought that it was still hard sometimes not to fight his own battles, not to make himself respected through his own words and... But he knew that a superior officer wasn't supposed to brawl with every moron who thought "teenager" and "can break you in two over his knee" were mutually exclusive.

"Haha, that's what you get for taking that promotion," Duo said, but his laughter fell flat.

Heero had taken one of the benches in the corner and Trowa the other one, and Wufei sat at his side so that he faced Heero.

When he looked at him, casually remote, faking relaxation with his drink and scanning the room incessantly over the rim, Duo couldn't help but remember Dagher's words.

Heero's intensely blue eyes flicked to him, harpooned in; his heavy brows twitched downwards. "What is it?"

"Haha. Nothing." But he -- _'they need to fuck, they need **you** to fuck, basically everyone needs to fuck.'_

He didn't think he'd imagined the flinch there. Oh, fuck.

"Sorry. Shit. I -- realized I knew nothing about that and -- asked people." He ran a hand though his bangs, winced. "I'm really sorry."

"It _is_ a topic of general interest," Heero said, utterly tonelessly. Duo was torn between cringing and kicking him under the table, making him stop doing that ever again.

"Still not the best place to bring it up. I just... Yeah. Sorry."

Wufei was staring at the wall past Heero's shoulder, lips pursed, looking uncomfortable, and Trowa into his glass.

"Why are you sorry?" Heero said, a little sharp. "You're not responsible for a biological process."

Duo sighed through his nose. "It's not sorry I did a bad, it's sorry you have to go through that shit. I know you can see the difference, come on."

"I'll survive," Heero said, and the tone was definitely 'drop it', but underneath... ( _Other people might not_.)

Duo winced. Trowa pushed a drink at him and he took it without a word, sipped. Martini. Okay, why not. He drained half the glass in one go. Maybe being a little tipsy would help.

Not so tipsy that Killer started picking fights with about any wolf who looked at Mary twice, though. He was currently crouched next to Duo's chair, following her progress through the room, touching noses here and there.

"I just..." Sigh. "This is a phenomenally bad idea, Yuy, and you know it. D'you really have to...?"

Trowa kicked him under the table, face bored. Duo yelped.

"It is your decision," Wufei said, quietly, "but if we're going to mitigate the collateral damage it might help to know the context."

Heero stared at him for a second, and frowned -- and then glanced at Mary, who -- Killer could see -- was now looking back.

"I took her to war with me," he said, switching to Japanese without warning. "I can deal with fucking someone for her."

That was _so_ not how make love not war was supposed to go, Duo thought, but somehow kept his teeth shut on it. Wow, hearing Heero talk about fucking. That was going to take some getting used to.

"At least tell me you're not a virgin," he begged instead, which was obviously much better.

Wufei groaned and closed his eyes, shook his head, muttering something about elephants and porcelain. Heero stared at him.

Trowa coughed delicately, and actually fucking _smiled at the ceiling_.

Which Duo would have ignored because Trowa was habitually a smug douche, if a subdued one, only...

" _When the fuck did that happen?!_ " he spluttered.

"Circus?" Heero replied, frowning like he couldn't figure out what the issue was. "We bunked together for over a month."

"Oh, _bunked_ together! Well in that case -- wait, you lost it before me?! You asshole! Wufei, tell me you didn't -- um."

Wufei sighed long and slow through his nose, stared at the ceiling like he was weighing the pros and cons of shoving Duo off his chair, and then said, "Married."

 _Before_ the war, too. "... Right. Wow, sudden urge to call Quatre and ask him when he lost his."

"When was yours?" Trowa asked, head tilted a little bit.

Duo shrugged. Wow, this had to be the most age-appropriate conversation he'd ever had with these guys, he could have sworn it on his unknown mother's head. "Uh. Couple months after the war? With Hilde," he added, bragging maybe a _tiny_ bit, because Hilde was a babe.

"Then he also beat you."

" _How do you know -- oh my God is there a Gundam pilot you didn't tumble Wufei tell me there is_."

Wufei pinched his lips so hard they paled, said, "Well," a bit regretfully, and then started laughing right in Duo's face. Trowa was following him a second later. Duo gave in and sank to the table, whimpering and snickering in about equal measures.

"Straight," Wufei told him mercifully, once he was done laughing like he was actually his age. "Apologies, Barton."

"No offense taken," Trowa replied urbanely, still smirking. "Not straight, by the way."

"We figured," Duo grumbled. "How not-straight?"

Trowa shrugged. "All the way bent, pretty much."

"Pfff."

Meanwhile Heero was watching the three patiently, face blank.

"... Oh, right. Heero, are you straight or gay or... bi or what?"

"... I don't care."

"Well if you've never done it with a girl how would you be sure of that?"

A slow, slow blink. "I had sex with Relena too. In about equal numbers to Trowa. There was no difference I couldn't attribute to different experience and personalities."

Duo stared at him, totally incredulous. "Fuckin' hell. Not two-timing I hope -- okay, you've had more partners than me, I am officially done worrying about this side of the issue."

"Good. It's not the sex that's the issue," Heero said, frank and matter of fact, a hand loosely curled around the coffee cup he'd put down. _Loss of control/strangers pinning me/cannot fight back cannot **not** fight back--_

Well.

Well. "There's an obvious solution, is there?"

"There is?" Trowa said, one eyebrow up.

Duo pointed wordlessly over his shoulder at Mary, pointed at Coyote sleeping under the table, tried very hard not to imagine Trowa and Heero together, all long limbs and trim muscles and that ridiculous "wolf-induced passion" he'd seen gushed about online. Would Trowa _bite_? Shit.

"Coyote and Mary?" Wufei said, straightening up a little; he looked briefly uncomfortable, and then forced it away. "That would certainly fix the trust issues..."

Heero looked at Trowa, hands gone oh so slightly tight on his cup. Trowa slowly, regretfully shook his head.

"Heero... You can get away with it for a subordinate bitch, but -- ask Mary if she'd want to be locked away with only Coyote to choose from." Heero obviously did; his face tightened. Trowa kept going, softly, keeping up eye contact. "She's not settled in the pack, she's messing with the hierarchy just by being here; they _will_ fight. If we lock her up with a beta male, and he covers her, they'll just fight afterwards."

He sighed quietly, lifted a hand palm up and let it drop back to his lap.

"Coyote will attend, but he's fifty pounds lighter than the big ones. He's not going to win."

 _Tricky_ , Coyote protested sleepily, but he didn't sound especially bothered. Maybe he wouldn't get the fuss so long as Mary wasn't in heat. Maybe he wouldn't get it at all.

Duo looked down at his clenched hands, wondered how he felt. If he was -- relieved? -- that Trowa couldn't. Maybe a bit, but it was more complex than that. Trowa would have taken care of Heero. He'd grown up in an actual _pack_ , he had to know how a heat went, what you did to mitigate things, to avoid accidents. Heero trusted him. (Duo bet he had gone to sleep just fine on his couch.)

There was still a solution, though, wasn't there.

"Glenfiddich will attend," Wufei said, meeting Heero's eyes with quiet determination.

"Yeah," Duo said around the knot in his throat. "So will Killer. If that's okay."

"That's..."

Heero's so self-assured voice trailed off (oh), and he inclined his head, blue eyes briefly closing -- and then he _bowed_ , over the edge of the table, just a little.

"Thank you. "

Yeah. No problem there. Purely the goodness of his heart. (He'd have done it for Wufei or Trowa. Just... Heero.)

Now Duo just had to make sure Killer didn't actually kill any of the other challengers. That was going to be fun.

 _Fight?_ Killer asked him, a little baffled but game. Duo sank his fingers in his brother's thick ruff and scritched him until the wolf forgot he'd asked a question.


	9. chapter 9 part 1 whooops (i lose)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> i managed to forget the first two scenes of chapter nine, guys. i was posting the last scene on gdocs so i could work on it offline and my beta could see it in real time and when it was done i'd totally forgotten there was more on the original file. 
> 
> if you've read yesterday's chapter already, this one happens before, sorry for any confusion. if you haven't yet, yay! you get to read in order. it's nothing hugely plot-relevant, but i wrote it, by god, i am going to post it. >:(

The next month was strange for Duo -- the routine of classes and awkward interaction with the trainees' sub-pack made only a _little_ more awkward by Heero's by turn too-forthright and too-erased presence, made a _lot_ stranger by the knowledge that the whole Preventers corps was waiting for Mary's heat to drop.

Mary seemed not to care, or not to mind, or to enjoy the way even the senior agents' much-older wolves would follow her with their eyes, their noses, their attention.

Heero seemed not to care either -- to not even _notice_ \-- but Duo knew he was faking it.

The longer it went on with nothing happening and the more Duo wanted to start a fight, just because that might bleed some of that strange tension out, or because at least something would be _happening_.

But nothing happened but the routine of classes, training, and sitting in a bar or in the cafeteria and getting to practice his small talk.

\--

Getting to practice his 'dealing with higher ups who were actually invested in how well he and Killer fit in', too, which was...

Well, it was happening whether he wanted it to or not, and knowing old man Rosca was, in the end, on his side, didn't help how badly Duo wanted to slam the metaphorical door in his face sometimes.

"Bazookasbrother was right," Rosca was saying, dispassionate and pitiless. "Get your wolf to explore alone."

Duo winced, sneaked Killer a look. He and Rosca were sitting on a bench under a gallery by the admin building; Killer was on the grass with a handful of other wolves, circling cautiously as they all orbited Folha. The ancient queen wolf lay on her side on top of a decorative bit of stone, probably some kind of memorial. It barely reached mid-thigh on Duo and was the highest point in the courtyard and Duo was surprised she hadn't fallen over climbing it.

The only reason Killer was letting the other wolves sniff him was that Folha radiated contentment to have the lot of them around her, and he didn't want to disappoint her by leaving or by scaring off those strange unknown wolves.

"You're thinking 'what if he leaves the compound.'"

Duo didn't lie, because lying to a guy linked to his mind was pointless, and also offensive, probably. (Also he didn't lie as a general rule.) "Well -- the security _might_ stop him..."

Yeah, you could only open the doors to the outside with a pass card. That was totally going to stop Killer going up to the second floor and jumping out a window onto the street, if the fancy took him. Urgh.

"Is he too stupid to mind the cars?" Rosca said dryly.

"Of course not!"

"There you have it."

 _Even if he gets out into the town_ , Rosca's thought shared, _so what? badge to his neck, police knows/has wolves, civilians_ _ **like**_ _wolves (too many pettings? oh no!)_ _when he comes back the_ _front desk see a badged wolf, oh hello yes let me open the door for you._

Urgh. Duo leaned back, arms crossed, tried not to glower sullenly at the pack outside. One of the male wolves was starting to kind of... twitch forward-backward to Killer like he wanted to play.

"In fact, let's start now," Rosca said, and stood without warning. "Come with me, let's walk for a bit."

"What? But--"

"Folha will handle it. You will not get a better setup for a first attempt."

Awgh. Duo stood reluctantly, started walking, couldn't help but throw little glances back. Killer, ears tilted dubiously, was still standing firm on his feet and looking at the other wolf like he had no idea what the fuck. At least he seemed engaged. And it wasn't like he couldn't track Duo's scent if he needed to find him...

The second they turned the corner Killer abandoned the group to come galloping after them. He bounded around the corner, stopped in a spray of gravel, and stared at Rosca, who was meeting his eyes with an eyebrow up, fearless in the face of several hundred pounds of pony-sized suspicious wolf.

 _Danger?_ Killer checked, eyes flicking to Duo briefly. Folha's human was making Duo feel weird-nervous-bad. Damn, Duo had thought he'd been shielding better than that, and that Killer had been sufficiently distracted.

_No, buddy, we're walking,_ Duo replied, trying for reassuring _. We're not going far, and we're coming back. Stay with Folha._

Killer snorted. _You don't feel right._

 _It's human things. Silly things. It's fine._ "Go on, shoo."

Killer lowered his head, still eyeing Rosca suspiciously, let out an image of Rosca's calf and his jaws snapping closed on it. Folha's human, he wouldn't kill, but if anyone touched his human...! _Bite_ , he said firmly, and turned away with his tail high to trot back to the pack.

Rosca had both eyebrows up when Duo glanced over to check. Argh.

"Well. I see this isn't one-sided."

"... I _did_ trigger it with all that worrywarting," Duo admitted, sighing.

"Still." They took a few steps; Rosca seemed deep in thought, wrinkles deepening between his eyes, around his mouth as he frowned. "The way you take turns being the protector is... hm. Has it always been like that between you?"

Duo shrugged. "Dunno. Since the war? Not when he was a puppy, obviously, but after the -- after my... my orphanage burned down, he started getting bossy, yeah." He tried to pretend to himself he was talking about a TV show he'd seen; it was harder than just being flippant, than ignoring his own reaction to laugh at how freaked out the other person got, but being flippant to Rosca wasn't happening somehow, the words just didn't want to come out that way. "I kinda put it on the now-a-teenager thing. Also the fact that -- well -- we'd lost, you know, everyone else, we'd almost lost each other and... Yeah."

"Yes, probably he was responding to your own feelings of insecurity at the time, and was never given a clear signal that he could stop -- huh. Wait."

"Uh?"

Rosca was frowning at him. "How old did you say the two of you were at the time, again?"

"Uh." Duo thought back. "Me, about eight, eight and a half, and he was... not quite two?"

Rosca's frown deepened. "So he was entering adolescence -- gangly limbs, growth spurts, losing his baby fur...?"

"Oh -- yeah, he'd been doing that for a while. Why?"

Rosca let out a long sigh and started walking again, looking all ... philosophical and enlightened, which was a bit annoying. It was like he'd deciphered the whole thing in about a second, and damn but that was irritating. If it were that simple--

"It's still not going to be simple to _fix_ ," Rosca said, gently amused. "But I just realized that while he was becoming an adult, you were still a cub, and stayed a cub in his eyes for another three to five years. No doubt you were a bossier, smarter cub, but there was a period of your lives -- a period without anyone who outranked the two of you, to make it moot -- when he was the adult and you were the puppy." He clicked his tongue. "No wonder neither of you seems to know who's in charge half the time."

Duo blinked, half baffled and half annoyed. "I know it's kind of weird, but I don't know why it's even such a surprise, I mean, I talked about this before." Come to think of it, they _had_ reacted weird about it...

"Maxwell, of course it's taking us some time to absorb all the implications. Even the Vikings didn't allow a young man to approach a wolf cub until he was at _least_ thirteen. Even then the median age for a first bonding was sixteen. There were reasons for that."

Duo frowned, and then winced. Yeah, he suspected that no one really wanted a nine-year-old in the middle if a bitch decided to go into heat. He supposed he'd been more lucky than he knew that they were pack-less for so long. Eugh.

"... More reasons than just that," Rosca told him in a quiet, gentle voice. "Though that's still a dang good reason."

"Yeah, it's...not a bad one. Kind of irrelevant in our case, but. Yeah. Okay--"

For a second he was almost glad to be interrupted, and then he wasn't. A flash of image, the kick of adrenaline -- a wolf was pouncing on his wolf.

He broke Rosca's sudden grasp on his elbow, almost followed through to break his wrist, froze still holding on to the man's arm.

 _No one must hurt,_ Folha was radiating. _Gentle mouth_.

The other wolf was play-bowing to Killer, yipping quietly in excitement.

Kind of... like... a puppy? A big puppy.

Killer knew he should be nice to puppies. But was this really...?

The other wolf darted forward -- Folha said _trust_ and _fun_ and _nothing hurts_ \-- Killer danced back, pulling his paw free of slightly-too-slow teeth.

It really didn't hurt. Huh.

'Better if you're not around for him to defend,' Segura had told him. Killer felt wary still, not sure how to respond -- not hostile, though, or not much, fading fast.

Okay, so. Maybe everyone's advice had been right. Which stuck in Duo's craw a bit if he wanted to be honest, but he would deal with that.

Duo stuck his hands deep in his pockets and made himself walk away. After all, it was going to take a lot more playing around with people not Duo before Killer stopped being too dangerous to allow into a mating frenzy.

\--

"Oh yeah? I'd like to see that."

 _Oh god_ , Duo thought.

"All right," Heero said, one hand on the gym's tallest climbing wall. (Oh _god_. This was going to be good. Or horrible, but then again Duo had a horrible sense of humor.) "Mary."

Duo could have told everyone what would happen, but it was a lot funnier to stand back and grin as Heero flung the rope up over the top bar of the wall, hopped and lizarded up to drag it down so the two ends would be level, flicked Mary one of them.

Instructor Segura looked up from the tangle of wolf rappelling harness he was trying to fix. Mary was already halfway up the wall, hanging from the rope by her maw, paws walking slow and steady up the wall even though her claws were far too dull to have any meaningful purchase. At the foot of the wall Heero was... well, way too light to counterbalance her weight from merely hanging on, so he had flipped upside down so his feet would be up on the wall, braced against the bottom of two climbing holds, and his body held stiff at a sharp angle toward the floor, the rope wrapped slow and steady around one of his forearms.

It was totally ridiculous, and kind of really fucking awesome.

"Holy _crap_. Can you do that too?" one of the trainees asked Duo, voice a bit shaky.

"Haha, you're kidding. Nah, Heero's the only one of us who can bench-press his own goddamn wolf." The abs he must have -- actually the muscles _everywhere_ , to pull that stunt, to keep his body so straight...

"She's only four hundred and seventy pounds," Heero said without looking, his eyes still fixed on Mary's tail. _Could bench press two of her/a thousand and ten pounds max ever registered/(would ache hurt injured)._ In about fifteen seconds he'd pulled her up fifteen feet; the top of the wall was approaching fast. "And the pulley lowers the strain."

 _Jesus that's not normal_ , Duo felt, pinging between several wolfbrothers. _He's thin like a stick_.

"He's not _that_ thin," Duo opposed without thinking. When clothed Heero looked to be a bit on the slender side -- though at least he had widened at the shoulders since the war because yeah, _that_ had been a stick -- but none of his flesh was fat, Duo never understood how the guy didn't freeze to death in the softest breeze.

"I was genetically altered," Heero said, bland and uncaring, and Duo couldn't figure out if he was answering Duo or the rest of them. He was doing the ghost thing again.

Segura was standing near the wall with his head craned up and an expression of weary doom on his face. "If she falls--"

Heero cut him a quick glance, looked back up. Mary's front paw were touching the top of the wall. "She could handle it."

Segura chewed on the inside of his cheek, Bazooka flicking her ears back doubtfully. "She altered too?"

"Some." _Not as much as me_ , Duo felt breezing by, but more like an echo than like deliberate communication.

At a signal neither of them showed, Mary curled her hind paws on the wall and kicked off, swinging wide over the void, and Heero hauled hard, his back arching until his head brushed the floor. Mary flipped around as she swung back, landed on top of the wall hindquarters first, balanced herself somehow.

"Jesus Mary Joseph. You guys are _crazy_."

"You haven't seen how Barton does it," Duo said through a grin. Wangai and Lombardi stared at him.

"This is very nice and all, and I won't at _all_ get reprimanded when the highers up find out I allowed one of the wolves to pull that stunt without a security harness -- _regulations_ , Yuy -- but." Segura ruffled his hair, looking mildly harassed. "Can you get her down the same way?"

"If I had to," Heero said, fallen sitting on the floor after Mary's side of the rope had gone slack. He climbed back up to his feet, glanced up.

 _Flying now!_ Mary threw all over the room, both imperious and excited, and launched herself off the wall like a blonde rocket.

She sailed over the group, arced down, and landed smack dab in the middle of piled-up gym mattresses. She was rolling off them straight away, bouncing back up on her feet in the next second and standing tall, ears pricked up proud.

Duo clapped politely. Mary came back to the group at a smart trot to get sniffed over.

 _Me too?_ Killer whined, nosing at Duo's hip. _Flying too?_

"Not even in a dream, buddy."

"Do I even want to know how you'd...?" Segura started, eyebrows scrunched in despair. Duo snickered.

"I'd make him a harness with the rope, if we had no equipment with us. Then climb first with some rocks and jump over the wall to act as a counterweight, probably. It'd take longer, seeing as I might have to make several trips to gather enough rocks, but that's exactly why I usually had harnesses and motorized pulleys with me, I don't get what the other guys have against technology."

Segura chuckled. "Very reasonable. And Barton and Chang...?"

"Trowa got Coyote to balance on his shoulders," Duo said, and shook his head in mild despair. "No idea how he didn't knock him off. Crazy acrobat. And I've never seen Glen and Wufei work together, so I have no idea. Probably Glen was trained properly."

"Wufei has to have taught him tricks outside of the standard training," Heero said conversationally as he rubbed at the slightly reddened palms of his hands.

Duo tried to imagine what kind of tricks Wufei might come up with, but a wolf handling a sword seemed a bit too silly and nothing else came to mind. "Yeah, probably," he conceded, and made a note to ask, if only because it might be funny.

Segura sighed through his nose, and then straightened up to face Heero. "Alright, that was enlightening. At the same time -- _never_ do it again. It's a horrible example for the rest of them, for one thing."

Heero gave him a look like he was wondering why anyone would ever get that idea, and then looked over the rest of the group. They were watching him, Lombardi muttering something to Anders; Makisig grinned awkwardly and rubbed the back of his head. "Well. It did look really awesome, but..."

"It doesn't work if your wolf's jaw strength doesn't allow them to support their own weight for the time it takes to bring them up," Heero said, frowning a little like he was wondering why he had to point out the obvious, "or if they have bad teeth, or their backbone is weak or injured."

"Or you're not superhuman strong," Duo pointed out, teasingly, because he was pretty sure everyone else was thinking it but none of them were going to dare bring it up after this display. Not that there weren't ways to get around the--

"You could get around it with a good pulley system," Heero said, now frowning at him, for letting that little detail stop him, until he realized it was another social thing he'd missed. "The time limit of your wolf's bite is non-negotiable, though. Mary's cervical muscles are very strong as well. I wouldn't recommend it unless time is short and the mission critical," he allowed.

 _(... Not civilians but still fragile,)_ he thought deep down, a little dismayed. It wasn't like he'd forgotten, just...

 _Backup slowed me down so much last time,_ Duo couldn't help but echo. _But yeah they'd fall whoops. If you ever take a team on the field gotta factor in the harnesses._

 _If I take a team on the field they'll start the mission already in harnesses,_ Heero pointed out, sending him a flash of a Preventer wolf in full rig, kevlar panels included.

 _Ugh heavy, can't run,_ Killer interjected, disgruntled.

_If they give you a jacket you are damn well going to wear it, buddy._

_... You too_ , Killer said, side-eyeing him, sending out an image of Duo and Killer both stuck in huge tactical vests, limbs splayed out and waddling like geese _._

Hoist by his own petard.  _... Urgh. Yeah, deal._

_They make pretty thin kevlar bodysuits now_ , Heero flashed him, with some specs -- they'd never have built any small enough for their teenage selves back during the war, but nowadays... _Still get cracked ribs but better than a bullet hole._

Duo thought about a wolf in a surfer-style skintight bodysuit and snickered.

"-- _Maxwell_ , your turn."

\--Oh. Oops.

Interesting that they were going first, but -- oh, yeah, most of the other wolves hadn't yet figured out that they would eventually be going up the wall too, but Lombardi's Bianchi's was sniffing at the wall all nervous, remembering the last training session (she'd had to drop out when she got pregnant with her litter, but she'd had time to try the wall and freak out,) and surely there would be less of a chance of her panicking the whole mini-pack of trainees in advance if she got to see wolves go first who were totally cool with the process. At least Segura hoped so...

"Sure thing, boss." Duo took the rappelling equipment Segura was handing him and saw about putting it on Killer first, and then on himself, testing every single strap twice. One of them had to do it by the book, after all, at least today.

 _Boring,_ Killer sighed, _but I will tell lavender-in-the-sun_ _ **all**_ _about how boring it is._

 _Good boy,_ Duo replied, ruffling his ears, and shimmied up the wall to set up the electrical pulley.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (have you read the previous chapter btw? because it should have been part of this chapter and was misplaced, and i had to post it separately and reorder the chapters. just. yeah. i lose. orz )

strawberryShortcake: So how are you guys doing really?  
JollyReaper: fucking awesome, is how.  
JollyReaper: im barely kidding.  
JollyReaper: its gonna turn much less awesome eventually but for now things are going worryingly okay!!  
strawberryShortcake: That's the Maxwell optimism I know and love!  
strawberryShortcake: What's going to happen later?  
JollyReaper: um.  
JollyReaper: heeros bitch wolf is gonna go into heat.  
JollyReaper: & u remember that rly bad porno we were like nahhh a plot like that is too stupid, its gonna be so unsexy, lets watch sexy mailman helping unplug ppls stuck pizzas instead?  
JollyReaper: u know the one w/ the ridic snarl faces & the labradoodles fucking in the background.  
JollyReaper: hildie?  
JollyReaper: hiildiiiie?  
JollyReaper: *hildie*!!  
strawberryShortcake: lbmkhiyv  
strawberryShortcake: HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.  
JollyReaper: omg its so not funny.  
strawberryShortcake: From here it's hilarious. X'D  
JollyReaper: yeah.  
JollyReaper: it kind of *is* ridiculous.  
JollyReaper: the thing is that means someones gotta fuck heero.  
strawberryShortcake: Oh hoooooo SOMEONE huh?? :D  
JollyReaper: & idk if hes too keen on getting fucked.  
strawberryShortcake: ... oh.  
JollyReaper: yeah.  
strawberryShortcake: Okay this part isn't funny. :(  
JollyReaper: mmmm.  
strawberryShortcake: :(  
strawberryShortcake: What are you going to do?  
JollyReaper: no idea.  
JollyReaper: too many ideas, none of them guaranteed to work, a lot of them guaranteed not to.  
JollyReaper: out of us glen & killer have the best chances of getting chosen by mary, but theres outside contenders too.  
JollyReaper: asked ppl abt grabbing heero&mary & going to hide in the mountains together for the duration but they say mary would have a hell of a time getting fully integrated into the pack that way as a leading lady & let me tell u she wont want to be a subordinate bitch v long.  
JollyReaper: plus it would mean were a full out stranger pack in the middle of the preventer pack & make sure none of our wolves integrate as anything but guests.  
strawberryShortcake: Which would be a problem if you want to work there yeah. :(  
JollyReaper: ...... well. yeah.  
strawberryShortcake: Do you want to work there now? I mean for itself not just for Killer getting a pack purposes.  
JollyReaper: kinda but it doesnt matter tbh.  
JollyReaper: trowa & wufei do, so thats that.  
JollyReaper: tho the job is cool & i hella miss action & dont think i could come back to salvage.  
JollyReaper: sorry.  
strawberryShortcake: Like I didn't know that two months before you left, stupid. :p  
JollyReaper: heh. <3  
JollyReaper: anyway i could do other things as well, it doesnt *have* to be the preventers for me. but theyre def staying onboard. so.  
JollyReaper: also mary is greedy & wants a big pack.  
strawberryShortcake: Well.  
strawberryShortcake: I don't know if I should wish you and Killerbaby good luck for the breeding thing. :(  
JollyReaper: idk either tbh :( if its not me, wish for wufei to win it, k?  
strawberryShortcake: I'll wish for a threesome ending!  
JollyReaper: ****NO.****

\--

"Are you guys doing anything today? Or -- well, this morning, at least?"

Duo popped his head out of the clean shirt he was putting on and leaned past the edge of his bunk. Makisig was standing at the door, his cub rushing inside to greet the sleepy wolves still waiting on their partners to get a move on.

It was the seventh weekend since the session had started, which meant the novelty of missing their loved ones and the trainees' desire to brave expensive train tickets and long hours in transportation had gone down a lot; the dorm was starting to stay pretty full even on a Sunday.

"I ask, because Tony and I were planning to take the cubs to a park, and we thought it would be fun?"

Tony? -- Oh right, Lombardi, Bianchisbrother. Chiquito was still small enough to spend a lot of his time with her and his littermates, including nights.

"I'm in," Wangai threw in, head popping over her bed. Her hair pointed at three, seven and eleven. "Getting so tired of the Preventers grounds, by God--"

Killer lifted his nose to look at Duo questioningly. Wolves were starting to get excited, people beginning to chatter across the room; what was going on?

... Yeah, if he told Killer he might have to commit, but at the same time...

"Yuy?" Wangai called out. "How about you?"

"I have revisions," Heero said without fully looking up from the notebook on his lap.

Whoops, decision made.

Duo hopped up on the ladder and deftly yanked it out of Heero's hands. Heero stared at him, so still that Duo wondered how close he had come to catching a pencil in the throat. "You can revise later this afternoon!" he said brightly, and blasted Killer and Mary with _park! Grass and trees and little dogs and people dropping sausages on the ground and_ ** _squirrels_** _!!_

Mary burst out of the wolf cave under Duo's bunk and hopped to put her front legs up on Heero's bunk. A stare-down of epic proportions ensued; Duo turned away chortling, was almost knocked to the ground when Killer nosed at him too enthusiastically.

"Come on, Heero, they need to run a bit." **_With_** _the other wolves_ , he thought, **_outside_** _of training hours_.

He threw the notebook back on the mattress after that, waiting patiently, and knowing he didn't need to give Heero the puppy eyes when Mary was giving him the imperious queen ones.

"...Fine," Heero said, eyebrows knit in annoyance, and slid off the bunk to put pants and shoes on.

By the time everyone had had their breakfast and was ready to go it was past ten already, and the streets were filling with civilians out for a jog or a dog walk or a trip to the market. Their dire wolf cavalcade did not exactly pass unnoticed -- six pony-sized adults, three malamute-tall cubs, and all of their attached humans ambling along. Wangai's Shark had taken point, and was looking back impatiently when other wolves dared to stop to sniff at things or start to wander down the wrong path.

Killer was making it a point to explore a few meters into every side-street they crossed, and Mary was ignoring the males royally, too busy trotting back to front and back again, helping Bianchi herd her cubs away from traffic -- and herding the humans if they lagged too much, as Duo found out one time she nosed his ass along.

"Hey! Heero, your bitch is bossy as hell," he complained, hopping to catch up. Heero ignored him entirely.

"I can't even figure out if you guys are really friends sometimes," Ben Hafner said, peering at them with a sympathetic grimace on his face. Duo was... _pretty_ sure he was teasing.

"It's a great love-hate affair," he confided with a soulful sigh. "I love to hate him and he hates to love me. Wait, was it the other way around...?"

"Killer's going after a cat," Heero said, gloriously uncaring. Duo whirled around, looked for his wolf --

"Killer is _sniffing_ a cat, he is not _going after_ a cat! He does not go after cats!" -- Anymore... Because, well.

 _Not hungry enough for sharp food,_ Killer shared disdainfully, and turned away from the half-puffed up tomcat.

Duo then had an auditory hallucination in the form of Heero snorting quietly in a way that resembled a smothered laugh. Maybe. Probably. Definitely.

"Anyway, he knows how to behave in town thank you very much and also you're a jerk."

Heero's face continued to look frozen in 'don't care' but a flash of ' _you manipulated my wolf, these are the consequences_ ' sparked between them. Oooh, the _brat_.

Wow, Heero _could_ be a brat. That was information Duo would have given a leg to confirm years ago, but now he knew for sure and wasn't going to be fooled again...!

A thin smirk floated on Heero's face for a second, but he still didn't acknowledge Duo directly. Duo bumped into him as revenge, and then threw an elbow on his shoulder, aggressively friendly, to finish him off.

Half a second later he was prodded under the ribs hard enough to almost make him twitch into traffic. Oh well. Still won.

A good half of Osseghem Park had been bombed pretty badly during the war on account of being close to a couple of military objectives. Instead of leveling it all back to flat and regular, the citizens of Belgium had decided to keep the resulting hillocks, replanted with imported bushes and trees, and had filled the craters with either water or grassy play areas. (There was a monument too, still sparkling new, but it didn't take up too much real estate.)

The wolves spotted a squirrel and half of them were gone from sight ten seconds after stepping through the park gates.

"... Well!" Duo said, hands firmly in his back pockets, rocking on his heels to keep from following through the bushes at a run.

It wasn't like he didn't know exactly where Killer was, where Mary was. Even -- vaguely -- where Shark and Hafner's Diablo were, more through Killer's awareness than directly, almost the same way he knew about the jogger they'd startled into a mud puddle and the kid playing soccer squealing at them.Bianchi hadn't even made a move to leave Lombardi's side, and all her cubs had stayed with her, though they whined and danced around the remainder of their big group, trying to convince the humans to go faster. Duo was really starting to think she was the most boring wolf ever.

It really helped with his stress levels knowing exactly what the lot of them were doing out of sight. Knowing that the other wolves were perfectly fine in public areas, and would troubleshoot, and that nothing was going to happen and god but Folhasbrother was right, he was a control freak about Killer. Okay, Maxwell, breathe. The day was going fine.

"There's an open area over there," Garnier said, a hand flitting to her chignon to make sure it was still immaculate. _Flat grass/no bushes/no walking paths_ , she flashed -- a clear, precise image with no emotional undertones Duo could pick out to muddy the dimensions and the locations of the few big rocks she remembered studding it. "I was thinking frisbee?"

Heero flicked a look around them, a lightning-quick assessment of all the joggers and people with prams and little kids on roller skates, all of them paying a little too much attention to the wolves still milling around. "Agreed," he said, and started that way. Duo was amused to watch the rest of them fall into step around and behind him.

They briefly acquired a gaggle of kids, shyly stalking the cubs and then dispersing with shrieks and giggles when Chiquito turned to check them out.

 _... Play?_ Chiquito shared plaintively.

"Play later, baby," Duo told him, and ruffled his ears, and then one of Chiquito's littermates chomped down on his tail and the cub was thoroughly distracted.

Mary and her retinue hopped back onto the path, sans squirrel. _Good chase!_ Killer shared, totally casual, like he hadn't fretted about Duo at all.

"But no catch," Duo teased him, grinning mostly out of self-deprecative amusement. Killer still nipped his ass.

The grassy area wasn't that far even at a casual stroll, and soon enough Garnier was dumping her backpack against a tree and pulling out a frisbee. The wolves ignored it until Garnier's brother Altair saw it and went stiff from ears to tail tip, blue eyes incredibly intent, and then suddenly the whole pack was staring at it.

_What? -- Plastic-ew -- prey? But toy prey -- Play!!! -- Play how, it's dead -- Play??_

Laughing quietly, Duo jogged along the trees. _What teams? Wolves versus humans?_

 _God, they would bulldozer us_ , Hafner said with a mock-worried image of his brother Diablo tackling him to the ground. Yeah, Duo sympathized with that one -- Diablo was almost Killer's height, built a bit stockier, and for all that they weren't the biggest wolves around, getting pounced still felt like getting hit by a somewhat-padded car. _Free-for-all?_

Ragged agreement came through the group -- Duo heard-felt them like a crowd behind a wall, swelling and then falling into whispers, but he did hear them. Which was even kind of neat.

Garnier threw the frisbee at Wangai, who shook it under Shark's nose -- _you want it?_ \-- and then threw it at Hafner, who lobbed it toward Duo, and Mary jumped in barely three feet away from his reaching hand and snatched it from the air.

It was a melee for the next half-hour. Three frisbees died torn between two or three wolves before they figured out the kind of tugs they could afford to give, one of the cubs got stepped on and whined up a storm, and Makisig was knocked flat on his face two times in a row. It was the best time Duo could remember having since... Probably since being on L2 with Hilde, goofing off in the salvage yard.

Mary got in the middle every time Killer and Shark went for the same frisbee.

 _Thanks_ , he floated to Heero when he noticed. Heero chucked the frisbee like he expected it to cut off Makisig's head when it hit.

 _Didn't do it_ , Heero floated back, and Mary piggybacked onto that with a disdainful sniff, pausing in mid-chase to arch an eyebrow at Duo in a much too human way.

_Stupid to weaken the pack before maybe-danger! Training now. Fight later._

She didn't seem to have a problem with Shark and Killer eventually maiming each other, just with the logistics. Because of _course_ they were currently in potential danger. Duo didn't know what she thought she saw coming, maybe just Heero's usual baseline paranoia. (Or maybe Heero's issues with her coming heat... Nah, more likely the paranoia.)

"Maxwell, catch!"

A whisper of switching allegiances and Garnier was throwing the disk at him -- Duo laughed, leaping to catch it, as Makisig protested helplessly. Hafner and Diablo shrugged in unison, and Duo could feel them switching over to Heero's side when two seconds ago they'd been trying to coordinate with Duo to sneak past the lot of them. Diablo pounced enthusiastically on Garnier's Altair, who went down with a yelp in a flurry of thin legs and borderline angora fur.

 _Friend now?_ Killer checked as he circled, and in the next second rammed Diablo in the side, sending him rolling off the other wolf. Altair leaped back up on his feet and took off like an arrow. Duo threw the frisbee at him, and the humans had a few moments to slow down and catch their breath as the other wolves tried to ambush him, cubs included.

"He's really not as fast as he looks like he should be," Duo commented to Heero under his breath as they jogged lazily after the pack. Garnier's Altair... The best thing Duo would have called him was overbred -- long thin muzzle, dainty paws on too-long legs, belly tucked in; his body almost looked more like a giant, fluffy greyhound's than like a wolf's.

Heero snorted. "Ancestral packs will do that." He'd seen some with Romafeller, with the oldest nobles with deep pockets who'd never dirtied their hands in the army one day of their lives, who maintained wolf packs as a status symbol almost. A few wolves flashed through his mind, some angora and some almost hairless, with short-muzzled profiles, with flopping puppy ears. Duo mock-shuddered.

"Eugh. That's why you breed _out_."

 _Some bred for stronger telepathy too_ , Heero added, less casual, more 'sharing tactical info you may need'. _(No intel on access to non-bonded or unfriendly-bonded people's minds, but circumstantial evidence says it's likely they could be strong enough telepaths to manage mind-spying.)_

 _... Yeah, that's not as funny._ Ergh.

Heero sneaked him a cryptic side-look. _They don't let those bond out of the family._

Well then. Lucky they hadn't dealt with the moneylenders and politickers all that directly, who knew how many of their secrets might have been weeded out... Duo nodded wisely, and then bounced his shoulder off Heero's, sending him careening off-course. The wolves had gone between the trees, so Heero had to push off a pine to keep from faceplanting; Duo put on a burst of speed, laughing.

"Hey! Guys! We're supposed to bring them back to the grass!"

... Yeah, Makisig was no fun at all. "No problem!" Duo threw over his shoulder, and yelped to find Heero gaining on him. He was going to end up in a bush...!

For a second he thought Heero was going to consider roughhousing to be beneath him, or maybe not figure out that it was expected to -- and then Mary galloped by, tongue lolling a little, bumped into her brother's hip, and Heero's eyes narrowed.

The next second Duo was face down in a pile of leaves and damp grass.

"--Oof." He rolled in the leaves as Heero hopped over his body, tried to hook his ankle -- managed it, for a second, before Heero jumped on his other leg to free himself and dodged the next swipe. "Stop -- running!"

"You're rusty."

"Oh my god, I'm going to murder you in the face."

Heero's eyes didn't change at all, but there was a flash of -- of _Mary said play-fight? doing it wrong?_ that was more like an afterthought than anything directed at Duo especially. Duo laughed, less out of amusement than thwarted frustration mixed weirdly with commiseration. "You jerk," he said, gentling, and then tackled Heero in the ribs.

(It was mildly like tackling a tree trunk.)

Heero whirled as they fell, landed on top, but Duo was ready and jackknifed up to keep them moving. They rolled under a shrub, caught facefuls of raking leaves, came to a stop against its roots. Duo was still mostly on top. He started feeling around for something to rub in Heero's hair.

"Time to -- get -- your _punishment_ \--"

He was stretching out to catch a fat cluster of dandelions when he -- when.

( _body on top of me warm-solid-light -- knee between my thighs -- no-danger--_ )

(-- _Might not be bad if it's with him, might be okay--_ )

Duo froze, for a second; stared down at Heero's face, barely emoting like always but maybe -- maybe not very stern right now, maybe not -- and then he must have felt Duo's reaction, noticed he'd been too loud because the whisper of him in the back of Duo's mind slammed closed and his thick, bristly brows went down.

Duo cautiously pushed off him and sat up through thin, scratchy branches that got caught in his hair.

Heero stared at him, and then looked away. He pushed himself up on his elbow, moved like he was going to leave.

"No, stay here. Heero--"

"You don't _have_ to attend," Heero snapped back, unexpectedly harsh, his eyes gone flinty-gray.

"Did I say anything about not wanting to attend? Jesus Christ. That is nowhere near the problem."

Heero sat up, head bowed under a thicker branch, frowned at Duo suspiciously from under a mess of dark bangs. "... So what _is_ the problem?"

... Yeah, what was...? Why had Duo flinched like that. Hah. God, how to even start to explain.

There were some parts of it he didn't even want to think about.

"It... bothers me when you expect bad sex, okay?" he started, because, yeah, that was also true. "Like -- not even _bad_ sex. But -- sex you _don't want_. And you're just, yeah, whatever, I'll grit my teeth and think of England--"

"Duo," Heero interrupted, scowling now, voice even more curt than usual. "Do you believe prostitutes are raped when they do their job?"

Oh, god.

"They're not consenting out of personal desire for the other party either," Heero gritted out, and tore a little branch off the tree to get it out of his hair. "Are you telling me everything they do is non-consensual?"

God his chest hurt. Killer threw him a concerned poke, _you okay/should I come?_ and it was hard for him to say _nah, it's silly human stuff_ and mean it.

"... Okay, you might not believe this but that is actually a gray area."

Heero threw him a sharp, squinty look.

"It's true, I have seen a lot of headstrong ladies on the streets who were pretty fine with it and who really didn't mind -- it was really just a job for them -- but I've also seen a lot of abused ladies who told themselves they wanted to do it, and lots of pimps who were pretty good at messing with their heads and keeping them cowed."

Duo raked a hand through his bangs, slumped a little. Urgh. Maybe they should get out from under the bush, but it felt like if they moved at all Heero would leave, and then they'd never finish this conversation.

Which would be a relief, but also cowardly as hell.

"But -- yeah, I get what you mean. You're--" --(selling)-- "handing yourself over for Mary's sake, but you consent to handing yourself over so it's not coercion. It's just... a thing that's got to happen."

"I don't get why you have such a problem with it."

"... Yeah, I bet."

"I don't get why you have a problem with the fact that I don't have a problem," Heero added, harsher. _I don't like it_ was thrown on its heels like a knife.

"Are you fucking kidding me," Duo snapped back without thinking, "being terrified that you'll kill someone you don't even want to fuck is _not a problem?_ "

For a second he thought he was going to get punched, or Heero was going to stalk off; there was a violent vibe in the air, a sharp, instinctive denial, and Heero was just too still, too stiff.

Duo felt bad enough for saying it that he might have let Heero punch him, if he wasn't afraid the guy would break his jaw, but there was only stillness.

"What, exactly, are you expecting from me," Heero said with carefully measured precision. "What is the reaction you want me to have. How do I make you stop trying to make me have it."

... Oh. Wow. That hurt. His stomach tried to twist up into a hard knot under his ribs, guts tight with an odd, prickling flush. Duo was surprised at how much it hurt.

Mostly because it was a bull's eye.

"... Shit. I'm sorry. I didn't--" _didn't mean_ , he almost said, but that'd be a bit of a lie. He _was_ weirded out by Heero's apparent reactions, kept feeling like Heero was either hiding the real ones or not truly getting it yet and once he did -- once he was prodded and hinted at enough -- he'd react the way Duo kept expecting him to, the way Duo did. "I'm sorry," he repeated, for lack of anything better. "You're right. I'm being shitty."

He forced himself to keep meeting Heero's eyes. Heero's brows stayed knotted but the tight skin at his eyelids relaxed a notch, and Duo let his shoulders loosen.

"What... do you want," Heero said, measured and cautious, "out of this situation, ideally?"

It sounded like he was quoting a self-help book verbatim. Duo sat very hard on a sudden, inappropriate urge to laugh.

"You to have good sex with someone I trust to handle you right," Duo said, just as measured, taking just as much time to word it right. "So, concretely, one of us... Or maybe Wangai," he forced out.

Heero frowned again, but it was more considering than annoyed. "Huh. Shark is definitely big and dominant enough to be one of the final contenders."

"Yeah. So. She's smart, she's respectful but assertive, she understands PTSD, and she's steady enough not to be freaked out by anything you might do that's not breaking her neck. I'd rather her than a total stranger." He tugged on his braid, wrapped it around his hand for something to squeeze. "I mean, fuck, I know that's a really limited dating pool but we don't even know what other agents will be on base the day Mary's heat starts and most of them don't hang out with the newbies, it's not like I can scope them all out properly."

"The intel I've got is lacking," Heero agreed, sitting back, shoulders finally loosening. "Size and weight alone are not going to be sufficient predictors." A brief pause, and then he wrinkled his nose. "Neither are scent names."

"Heh. Mary thinks they should be?"

"Mm."

Heero started to look away, like he was thinking it was time to move on. Duo's hand shot out, touched his elbow -- knew better than to hold on.

"I just -- want you to have a good time. Or have an okay time. Been kind of freaking out that I can't wave a magic wand and make that happen for you, and -- I'm sorry, I pushed that onto you and it's the last thing you need."

"I've had good sex before," Heero said quietly. "I'll have good sex again. It's probably going to be too overwhelming at the time to be concerned about how good it is, anyway, and afterwards it'll be _done_."

Duo twitched at the sudden note of -- of frustration, of...

He looked up and Heero was still meeting his eyes, but they were narrowed like Heero was resisting the urge to look away. Which was...

... Which was. Not.

"I guess," Duo said quietly, because he didn't know what else to say.

"Mmh."

"I guess," Duo repeated quietly. "Hey, do you want a hug?"

Heero blinked, stared at him with his eyebrows actually twitching up, his usual suspicious squint loosening into honest surprise -- he looked young like this, he looked his age, it wasn't _fair_.

"... Cuz. I kind of want one right now."

"Huh."

"Heh," Duo said -- not quite a laugh -- and scratched at the back of his head, face turned away. "Nah. Just kidding. S' fine--"

Heero's arm wrapped around his collarbone, pulled him sideways back in, shoulder to Heero's chest. Oh.

He didn't know what to do with his right arm -- too far to reach across Heero's lap -- so he tucked it in across his own stomach. His face had ended up against Heero's shoulder. He closed his eyes, left arm slipping around Heero's ribcage -- not too far, careful to turn his forearm up his back and not across, so Heero could still break free.

"I could break free even if you didn't let me," Heero said, but in a strange tone.

Duo groaned, turned his face away, cheekbone slotting into the dip of his shoulder. "Oh, shut up--"

"No, I'm trying to say--" frustration, how could they talk so much at cross-purposes using the same _language_ \-- _just hold on if you're going to, I don't_ ** _care_** _, I_ ** _know_** _you_.

Growling, face hot, Duo twisted at the waist and wrapped his arms all the way around, held on like he was trying to break a rib -- ( _there! Just what you wanted!_ )

Heero snorted. Duo wondered if it was lasting too long, if he was making it weird. Probably. But _shit_. Why was it so _hard_ to communicate the simplest thing with Heero, to get a second look, the barest _hint_ of approval?

Heero letting him encroach on his space was. Duo was tolerated. Best he could likely get from him. (Not enough, but.)

Fuck. He was being ridiculous. Duo sighed, eyes closed, and --

Heero patted the back of his head. Awkward, prompted. Duo gave a dry laugh, straightened up, arms falling. Couldn't look him in the eye. "Aw, man, don't force yourself like that. Sorry, I was. It was stupid."

There was silence for a moment. And then Heero raised a hand to his own face, actually pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Why won't you _talk to me_."

Duo spluttered. "What? Are you kidding me here? I do nothing but talk and talk, you're the one who never answers!"

"You're the one who talks to someone who _isn't here_ \--"

Duo flinched, but Heero had paused before that, staring at him with his too-penetrating eyes that never seemed to see the obvious, even though they could otherwise strip you to the bone.

"No. That's not... Entirely right. Sometimes you attribute answers to me that I would not give, and I've noticed they're generally... negative. That's frustrating. At the same time -- you're right. We have communication issues."

Duo gave an incredulous snort, and then rubbed at his face with the palm of a hand -- to wake himself up from feeling so stunned-stupid, to stop his nose before it started dripping.

"I notice that you communicate perfectly well with most people, so the blockage is likely on my end--"

"If you've noticed that, you haven't been watching very hard," Duo said, voice a little rough, a little funny. "I can chatter away about nothing with just about anyone, but we don't -- deeper down, there's no..."

He took a deep breath, released it. Killer was coming back to them, a little concerned. He had to finish this before Mary came back, too, and the rest of the pack with them.

"Whatever. Small talk is a skill. I know you don't have it. To be honest I'm kind of rusty, too. It's just... When I guess right, sometimes you don't -- like -- _tell_ me I guessed right. You don't react at all. Which would be alright, but sometimes when you're annoyed or you're just not interested, you ignore me. Which is... kind of the same signal. You get me? From my end there's pretty much nothing. So yeah, I guess a lot, and I guess wrong a lot, because half the time it's pretty much you being tired of hearing me--"

"When I want you to shut up, I tell you so," Heero said, but then frowned, looked down at his hands resting on his lap. "I just..."

Huh. "...Yeah?"

_You always hear more than I mean to. (access level ??) Weird/startling/not bad -- not enough? Missing pieces (Trowa never seems to miss pieces/Wufei maybe but never says/Quatre knows before_ **_I_ ** _know--)_

Duo chuckled dryly. _Quatre is odd/uncanny/amazing (I like him he never makes it awkward) (hurts-no good that I'm the only one who needs--)_

No. No, fuck. Stop. He wasn't going to get jealous of the guys. That was ridiculous and shitty and pointless, would only make him feel lower.

"Relena asked me to clarify a lot," Heero said, like he thought it would help. ( _Thoughtful face weighing gaze would you please expand your reasoning hm yes I see. When she nods like that it means we click again.)_

Duo could tell how it was meant to help. Only now he was -- hah. Relena. "That's surprising, you always did seem to get along really well back in the day."

"She did guess correctly a lot."

Flinch.

_(I should have kept expanding without so much prompting I see that now.)_

Well, he should have if he _wanted_ to communicate, but. "... Why'd you guys not stay together?" Duo asked, not sure he wanted to know but knowing he needed to.

 _Mine_ , Mary growled, suddenly spreading herself with possessive annoyance over the two of them.

"... Yes," Heero said dryly. Duo burst out laughing.

"Did anyone think to tell her the Miss isn't a queen any longer?"

"I don't think she cares much about the title. Another leading female, she felt encroached on."

Killer pushed through the bushes, tilted his head at the both of them. _Pack says where, what?_

Awh. Fuck. Sighing, Duo climbed back to his feet. All this bullshit and he felt like no progress had been made.

Well. Some progress. But he hadn't managed to say...

Maybe it was better that way.

"Yeah, yeah, we're coming." He dusted himself off perfunctorily, studiously not looking at Heero. He was mildly surprised Heero hadn't already started back without him.

 _Dispute/not right?_ Killer asked. Duo grumbled.

_Yeah I guess. It's as sorted out as it's going to get._

Killer flicked his ears backwards, dissatisfied. If there was still an issue they should make it better right now. _You should lick his chin._

Duo groaned. Licking Heero's face, wow, what a great plan. (What an objectively great plan, yeah, if the other party involved got amnesia...)

Killer snorted, explosive, gave him a disdainful look and then went to poke Heero in the hip with his nose. The smell of cordite and nitroglycerine and blood rose, loud and clear like a call across a crowd; Heero, frowning, looked down to meet Killer's eyes. _Ozone and burnt wires wants to lick your chin and be friends again_ , he sent, clear images -- of humans, not even wolves, licking and then curling up together content -- that had Duo's face heat up to the forehead in about two seconds.

"Killer, shut up!" Oh god. Oh, god, at least he hadn't --

 _He also wants to lick inside your mouth...?_ Killer added, doubtfully. 

Duo stopped walking on the spot. Then Heero turned to look at him, an eyebrow up.

 _I'll win,_ Killer finished, nosing Heero's arm in an almost comforting manner. He didn't even know what they were freaked out about, Duo could tell -- no bitch in heat around him now, no libido to speak of -- but he knew Duo had been worried about the fight because Heero was his favorite person and no, there was nothing to worry about.

Oh, fucking hell.

Duo didn't know if he wanted to try to explain himself, or run away screaming, but Mary burst through the bushes with Altair on her tail at that instant, followed by Hafner Fucking Diablosbrother, asking if they'd gotten stuck in a squirrel hole or what.

Heero's eyes lingered on him much too long before he turned away for Duo's peace of mind.

He couldn't decide if it was clinical or still analyzing or displeased, or just honestly understanding-but-neutral -- but one thing was for sure, it wasn't surprised delight of the 'oh gosh, so great, I like you too!' variety.

\---

JollyReaper: fml. im actually in love with goddamn heero man o steel yuy.  
strawberryShortcake: Yeah. Sorry hon. It's not that bad though, is it?  
JollyReaper: ...... u could act surprised!!!!  
strawberryShortcake: o_o You mean it was supposed to be a surprise??  
strawberryShortcake: Wait you mean it was a surprise TO YOU?????  
strawberryShortcake: Sorry Duo but your homoerotic man crush was visible from the MOON. I mean your man crush on Wufei is barely smaller AND Heero is the type you always go for. It was really not hard to see it leveling up.  
JollyReaper: the type i what ????????  
strawberryShortcake: Slim, androgynous, messy-haired brunettes? Did you seriously not notice all the guys you experimented with back when you guys lived here looked like me and him??  
strawberryShortcake: Duo?  
JollyReaper: jesus flipping burger christ.  
strawberryShortcake: There, there.  
JollyReaper: holy shit fml i didnt.  
JollyReaper: !!!! i swear i didnt use u as a substitute for him !!!!  
strawberryShortcake: XD I didn't think you did! For one thing we really have different personalities.  
strawberryShortcake: You just like 'em sexy. ;D  
JollyReaper: haha yeah i guess.  
JollyReaper: im so fucked.  
strawberryShortcake: It's not that bad! It's not like he's going to notice, you've got some time to decide how you wanna handle this.  
JollyReaper: killer told him.  
strawberryShortcake: ... You're so fucked.


End file.
